
Classic _^ 
Book ' M M 



i-L 



Copyright^ 10 



JO 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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i 

THE 



TRUE BELIEYER: 



CHARACTER, DUTY, AND PRIVILEGES, 

ELUCIDATED 

Xn a Series of Discourses. 

BY REV. ASA MAHAN, 

PRESIDENT OF THE OBERLIN COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE, OBERLIN, OHIO. 



"Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is precious" 




HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 

c}*fir~%TrC»+Z /t^^^^ $f*tx~/£~»- 



tt^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and forty-seven, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New York. 



LC Control Number 




tm P 96 027739 



PREFACE. 



The design of the following discourses is stated 
with sufficient explicitness on the title-page. An 
answer to the inquiry, What are the true character, 
duties, and privileges of the sons of God, in this 
life, has now become one of the great and press- 
ing wants of the church. Happy, thrice happy 
will it be for Zion, if those whom the " Holy Ghost 
has made overseers" of the " flock of God," shall 
instruct her rightly in respect to such inquiries. 
The writer indulges the fond hope, that these dis- 
courses, prepared with no little prayer for divine 
illumination, and the preparation of which has so 
deeply refreshed his own spirit, may do something 
to forward so desirable a result. Zion is the 
chosen dwelling-place of his heart. He has no 
interests, nor plans, which are not fully identified 
with her purification, blessedness, and enlarge- 
ment. Never may he be permitted to write a 
single line for the public eye, or ear, for any other 
end. The reason why these discourses are given 
to the public, is the full conviction, that the church 
imperiously needs to be instructed in the knowl- 
edge of the great and precious truths which these 
discourses were designed to elucidate. 

Some years ago, the substance of all of them 
but the last, which has never before been given to 
the public, was published in the Oberlin Evangel- 



IV PREFACE. 

ist. Since their appearance in that publication, 
the writer has been often and earnestly solicited 
to furnish them in a volume by themselves. As a 
response to such requests, they have been carefully 
revised and corrected; and are now presented in 
a form, in which the author is willing that they 
should meet the public eye. 

But two classes of readers will fully appre- 
ciate what is here written — those who are earnest 
inquirers after the " great salvation," in all its full- 
ness, and those who have a present experience of 
that fullness in their own hearts. To such, espe- 
cially, the work is commended, with the fervent 
hope and prayer, that their numbers, in the 
churches, may be multiplied a thousandfold, till 
the " redeemed of the Lord shall return and come 
with singing unto Zion, and with everlasting joy 
upon their head." Among that happy throng, per- 
haps, this work will be remembered by here and 
there an individual, as one of the instrumentalities 
by which his feet were guided and established in 
the highway of holiness. This is the only form of 
ambition now known to the author. If the reader 
shall derive as great blessedness and profit in 
reading, as the writer has in preparing this work, 
he will never have occasion to regret the loss of 
his labor. One of the most pleasing features of 
the doctrine therein set forth is the fact that he 
who proclaims it, receives, while he is thus water- 
ing others, if possible, greater "fullness of joy" 
than he who embraces it when proclaimed. 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON PAGE 

I. THE GOSPEL PLAN 1 

*II. THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE ... 18 

III. FULLNESS OF JOY 40 

IV. LIFE ETERNAL 63 

V. CHRIST'S WITNESSES 90 

VI. THE GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE 

BELIEVER 114 

VII. TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW . 137 

VIII. GROWING IN GRACE 159 

IX. A WORD FITLY SPOKEN .... 173 

X. CHRISTIAN ADMONITION .... 190 

XI. DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THE 

DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION . . 207 

XII. TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT . . .232 

XIII. INQUIRER DIRECTED 250 



THE TRUE BELIEVER. 



SERMON I. 

THE GOSPEL PLAN. 

Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God. — 1 Cor., x., 31. 

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy 
paths. — Prov., iii., 6. 

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and sup- 
plication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understand- 
ing, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus. — 
Phil., iv., 6, 7. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on 
Thee ; because he trusteth in Thee. — Isaiah, xxvi., 3. 

Thou shalt call his name JESUS ; for He shall save His peo- 
ple from their sins.— Mat., i., 21. 

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are pos- 
sible to him that believeth. — Mark, ix., 23. 

The design of the present discourse is not to 
give a particular explanation of the passages above 
cited, nor to deduce any one specific principle 
from them as the basis of my remarks; but to pre^ 
sent some reflections of a general nature, designed 
to throw light upon the " gospel plan" — reflec- 
tions which have suggested themselves to my mind 
on reading these and kindred passages of Scripture 
I need not here particularly remind the reader, 
that all that God requires of any being on earth j 
or in heaven is comprehended in one word — love: I 
— and that every particular precept is only a spe- 
cific exemplification and application of this one 
A 



Zl THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

principle. With this thought distinctly before the 
mind of the reader, I remark : 

1. That love, in all its forms, implies devotion to 
the interest of its object. In the form of natural 
affection it implies this. Parental affection, for ex- 

\ ample, implies devotion to the feelings and interests 
of children. In the form of benevolence, such as 
is required by the moral law, love implies supreme 
devotion to the great interests and objects of be- 
nevolence existing in the universe around us. As 
exercised toward God, it implies supreme respect 1 
for, and delight in his character, implicit confidence :: 
in his veracity and faithfulness, unreserved obe-v^ 
dience to his authority, and the consecration of 
our entire being to his kingdom and glory. As* 
exercised toward the creatures of God, it implies 
the devotion of our powers to all their interests, 
temporal and spiritual, according to their rela- 
tive importance, such as Christ himself manifested 
when he was on earth. The person who exercises 
this love " lives, and moves, and has his being" 
for this object. " Pure religion, and undefiled be- 
fore God and the Father," will manifest itself, not 
merely in devotion to the spiritual and eternal in- 
terests of men, but also in " visiting the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and in keeping him- 
self unspotted from the world." 

2. It is a fundamental design of Christ, in the 
plan of redemption, that the principles of the gos- 
pel, or the law of love, shall be carried out and » 
exemplified by the believer, in every condition and * 

i relation in life — that he shall eat, and drink, and 
clothe his body, demean himself in the family, in 
the church, and before the world, and regulate all 
his interests and transactions with his fellow-men, 
under the influence of the same spirit of love by 

J which Christ was induced to "become poor for 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 3 

our sakes, that we, through his poverty, might be 
made rich." We understand, distinctly, the spirit 
by which Christ himself was influenced in every 
condition and relation in life, and by which a min- 
ister of the everlasting gospel ought to be influ- 
enced, in the duties of his sacred calling. The 
design of Christ is, that every believer shall be 
influenced by the same identical motives, in every 
condition and relation in life. " Whether, there- 
fore, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all 
to the glory of God." " In all thy ways acknowledge 
Him." These are the fundamental requisitions by 
which Christ designs and expects that we shall 
regulate our entire conduct before God and the 
world. 

3. In some particular sphere in life, every indi- 
vidual is required and expected to glorify God, by 
devoting all his powers and interests to the divine 
glory, and conforming his entire deportment in 
that sphere to the principles of the gospel. On 
account of natural endowments and the arrange- 
ments and dispensations of divine providence, one 
person is adapted to, and required to more in one 
sphere in life, and another in another. But the 
farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, the husband, 
the wife, the parent, the child, are to glorify God 
by conforming their entire deportment and trans- 
actions with their fellow-men to the same principles 
of pure and perfect love by which the minister of 
the gospel is required and is expected to regulate 
his conduct in the discharge of the most hallowed 
duties of his sacred calling. Every man, what- 
ever his sphere in life may be, is expected to make 
it his supreme object to conduct himself, in that 
sphere, in such a manner that the greatest possible 
amount of glory shall result to God, and the great- 
est good to men. 



4 THE TRUE BELIKVEE. 

4. In the particular sphere in which a person is 
for the time being called to move, there is the time 
and the place in which he is to glorify God. If he 
is at home, within the domestic circle, or abroad 
on a journey, or engaged in any of the ordinary 
or special transactions of life, it is, by ordering his 
whole deportment, in these particular circumstan- 
ces, in conformity with the principles of the gospel, 
that God is to receive honor from him. 

5. Such are the fixed arrangements of divine 
providence and grace, that if we do not thus glo- 
rify God in each particular sphere in which we 
are called to move, we do not glorify Him at all. v 
He can receive no honor from us in any sphere 
whatever. Suppose, for illustration, a professed 
Christian is, as in this respect he ought to be, very 
punctual in his attendance upon the services of the 
sanctuary on the Sabbath, and upon all the meet- 
ings for social prayer, &c, and that in all these 
services he appears exceedingly devout. If you 
should meet him nowhere else, you might, what- 
ever his real character may be, receive a hallowed 
influence from his example ; because you would 
think his external appearance a reflection of the 
state of his heart. But, should you detect that 
man, in some business transaction, in a settled plan 
to overreach you, what influence would his ap- 
pearance in the house of God and the circle for 
social prayer, now exert upon you ] As long as 
that sin remains upon that individual, unconfessed 
and unrepented of, it is impossible for him to glo- 
rify God in your estimation, in any other sphere, 
whatever his appearance and conduct there may 
be. The same principle holds equally true in all 
cases whatever. The man who does not glorify 
God in every sphere in which he is called to move- 
does not glorify him in any. 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 5 

6. A fundamental design of the redemption of 
Christ was and is to provide and reveal .grace, by 
availing ourselves of which we may " serve God 
acceptably, with reverence and godly fear/' in 
every particular sphere in which we are called 
to move. In this consists our " completeness in J 
Christ.'' In making provisions for our redemp- 
tion, He remembered us in every particular sphere 
and condition in which we are called to move. As 

a Savior, He presents Himself as able and willing 
to meet all our necessities, and to render us, in 
every relation in life, all that God requires us to be. 

7. Hence, I remark, that if Christ does not save 
us, by rendering us, in our different spheres and 
relations in life, as parents and children, as hus- 
bands and wives, as citizens and members of the 
household of faith, what God requires us to be in 
these relations and circumstances, He does not / 
save us at all. If He saves us, He does it by de- 
stroying in us the spirit of disobedience, and in- 
spiring us with the spirit of obedience to the com- 
mands of God. The man imbued with such a 
spirit will have " respect to all God's command- 
ments" in every relation in life. If Christ saves us, 
He does it by destroying our selfishness, and ren- 
dering us benevolent like Himself. The person 
possessed of such a spirit (and none others know 
Christ as a Savior at all), who loves his neighbor 
as himself, will not " overreach or defraud his 
neighbor in any matter." All his business trans- 
actions with him will be an exemplification of the 
law of love. 

8. Hence, I also remark, if our faith does not • 
fasten upon Christ, to render us in our different 
spheres as above referred to, what God requires us 
to be, we do not, in any true sense, exercise faith i\ 
in Him as a Savior from sin. It is in these cir- ' 

a2 



6 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

cumstances and relations that our sins are found. 
Here we sin, if we sin at all. Here, then, our 
faith must fasten upon Christ, to be thus saved 
from our sins, or we do not know Him by faith as 
such a Savior. 

9. Another fundamental principle of the gospel 
plan is this : in every condition and relation in 
life, we are authorized and required to look to 

j Christ for special wisdom and grace, to render us, 
i in those particular circumstances, all that God re- 
quires us to be. This we are to do, with the 
assured expectation, that, in conformity with his 
promise, while we " acknowledge Him in all our 
ways, He will direct our paths." " He will instruct 
us, and teach us the way we should go, and guide 
us by his eye." 

10. While we thus consecrate our entire being 
to God, He kindly assumes the guardianship of all 
our interests, temporal and spiritual. While we 
are " careful for nothing, but in all things by prayer 
and supplication, with thanksgiving, make known 
our requests unto God," his word stands pledged 
that " no good thing shall be withholden from us ;" 
that the " peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep our hearts and minds through 
Christ Jesus." Our exclusive business, the only 
thing about which we are to be careful, is, to 
"hearken to God's word," and do his will. His 
business is to see that all our real interests are 
secure, all our real wants supplied, and our souls 
" kept in perfect peace." 

Such is a brief outline of the Gospel Plan. The 
way is now prepared for some important remarks, 
arising from the train of thought thus far pursued ; 
remarks designed to throw still further light upon 
this subject. 

1. We see the relations between the moral grin* 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 7 

ciples and precepts and the doctrines of the gospel. 
The former constitute the rules of action in con- 
formity to which we are required to regulate our 
heart and conduct, in all the circumstances and 
relations of life. The latter embody those motives 
and influences designed and adapted by infinite 
wisdom and love, to secure obedience to the moral 
precepts of Christianity. This is the design of 
every doctrine of the gospel, and this the relation 
between the doctrines and moral precepts of Chris- 
tianity. 

2. We see, in the light of this subject, in what 
consists the perfection of the gospel. It consists in 
the absolute perfection of its moral precepts, and 
in the equally perfect adaptation of its doctrines 
and influences to secure obedience to its moral 
precepts. Any other view of the gospel than this 
makes it, so far, an imperfect gospel. 

3. We also perceive in what consists the per- 
fection of Christ as a Savior. It consists in his 
perfect ability and willingness to meet entirely 
every demand of our being, in every condition 
and relation in time and eternity. It consists in 
his ability and willingness to remedy all the con- 
sequences of past sins, to secure us, in all future 
time, against the power of sin and all incentives to 
its commission, and to cause all, by whom He is 
inquired of by faith to do it for them, to " stand " 
perfect and complete in all the will of God." Such 

a Savior, we, as sinners, imperiously need ; and 
were Christ in any respect deficient in these char- 
acteristics, He would be so far an imperfect Savior. 

4. We may understand the nature of evangelical 
faith. The believer, in the exercise of such faith, 
recognizes himself as " complete in ^Christ," in / 
every condition, relation, and sphere in life. To 
his mind, every promise of God is " yea and amen 



8 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God the Father." 
His great inquiry is, What has God promised ] 
When he understands the blessing really embraced 
and proffered in any promise, his faith at once 
fastens upon Christ, to have that promise, in all 
its fullness, accomplished in his own experience. 
Then he has no more doubt, whether he shall 
realize its fulfillment, than he has of the veracity 
of God. He never " staggers at any promise of 
God through unbelief. " When called to move in 
any particular sphere or relation in life, he at once 
looks to Christ for grace and wisdom to meet fully 
every responsibility devolved upon him in that rela- 
tion. This he does, expecting to " receive of Christ's 
/( fullness, and grace for grace," as his circumstances 
require. Such is true evangelical faith. Reader, 
is this the " confidence that you have in Him'?" 

5. We may see the nature of unbelief. Unbe- 
lief assumes three forms : 

(1.) It denies the truth of revelation altogether. 
This is Infidelity. 

(2.) It admits the truth of revelation ; but denies 
the fact, that provisions are made and revealed in 
the gospel to enable the believer to " stand perfect 
and complete in all the will of God" in this life. 
Or, it admits the adequacy of the provisions of 
grace, and then affirms that they sustain such a 
relation to us, that no believer ever did or ever 
will so avail himself of them in this life, as to ren- 
der the obedience required. This is unbelief — as 
manifested by the opposers of the doctrine of 
Christian Perfection. 

(3.) Unbelief in the third form, admits the pro- 
visions of grace, and the practicability of our avail- 
ing ourselves of them, and then withholds the faith 
required. This is practical unbelief. 

6. We may also notice the symptoms of unbe- 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 9 

lief, or those indications by which any man may 
determine whether he is under its influence : 

(1.) The absence of a confirmed and settled 
peace of mind is a sure indication of unbelief. 
u They that wait on the Lord are as Mount Zion, 
which can not be moved." " They whose minds 
are stayed on God are kept in perfect peace." 
Faith recognizes in Christ a full, and perfect, and 
present supply for every necessity. Where is the 
place for carefulness in such a mind ] Remember, 
reader, that if your peace is not " as a river, and 
your righteousness as the waves of the sea," it is 
because of your unbelief. 

(2.) Present disquietude in regard to the future 
is a sure indication of unbelief. Faith recognizes 
in Christ a full supply of every necessity, in every 
possible exigency of our present and future be- 
ing. It, therefore, " casts all its cares upon the 
Lord," with the most peaceful assurance that 
every want will be met as it occurs. Careful- 
ness finds no place in such a mind. Will you 
bear it in mind, reader, that all disquietude about 
the future — whether it respects our temporal or 
spiritual interests — has its origin exclusively in 
unbelief] 

(3.) Continued failure in good resolutions is 
another certain indication of the presence and pre- 
vailing influence of unbelief. Faith is "the vic- 
tory which overcomes the world." It resolves 
upon obedience, and, by the grace of God, renders 
that obedience. Unbelief is overcome by the 
world. It 

11 Resolves, and re-resolves, and dies the same." 

Or, rather, despite its resolutions to the contrary, 
it slides back " with a perpetual backsliding." 
Reader, how is it with you ? Do your oft repeat- 



10 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ed, and as often broken resolutions, proclaim the 
fact, that you are in unbelief? 

(4.) Another very common indication of unbe- 
lief is, the idea, that there is in our circumstances 
and relations in life, something peculiarly unfavora- 

I ble to our sanctification, and that when our condi- 
tion is changed, we shall be more holy. How per- 
fectly evident is it, that the faith of such persons 
rests, not upon Christ, but upon external circum- 
stances. In other words, here are the certain indi- 
cations of unbelief. Faith recognizes for itself an 
infinite fullness in Christ for every condition, rela- 
tion, and circumstance in life. 

(5.) The complaint of a hard heart is another 
sure indication of unbelief. God has promised to 
" take the stony heart out of our flesh, and to give 
us an heart of flesh.' ' Faith lays hold of the prom- 

* ise, and realizes its fulfillment in actual experience. 
Unbelief, on the other hand, retains the heart of 
stone, as a fearful weight upon the soul. The con- 
scious presence, therefore, of such a heart is a cer- 
tain indication of unbelief. 

(6.) A want of a felt, conscious assurance, that 
God hears and answers us when we pray, is an- 
other certain indication of unbelief. Faith intro- 
duces the soul into the very audience chamber of 
the Most High. It uses the name of Christ with 
the most fixed and peaceful assurance of being 
heard, and of having the petitions desired of Him. 

I Unbelief, on the other hand, shuts the soul from 

I God, and depresses it with the gloomy conscious- 
ness that God does not hear and will not answer. 
Christian, when you pray with the feeling that 
God does not hear you, will you admit the fact 
that the cause is unbelief in your own heart ] Say 
not that past sin is the cause. Past sin originated 
in unbelief, and God always hears the prayer of 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 11 

penitence and faith, whatever the past may have 
been. 

(7.) The common impression that such is the 
strength of our sinful propensities, and the number 
and power of our temptations and besetments to 
sin, that we can not hope to be sanctified in this 
life, is a certain indication of the wide-spread in- 
fluence of unbelief. The language of unbelief in 
this case is, that Christ, as a Savior, is not able to 
deliver us from the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
or that he is not willing — the worst imputation 
that can possibly be cast upon his character. To 
say that Christ is able or willing to save us from 
all sin, when and only when He has got us beyond 
the reach of all temptation, is saying very little, 
surely, to his credit as a Savior. It is the most 
cruel imputation which unbelief ever casts upon 
his character. Christian, how often have you thus 
wounded Him, " in the house of his friends %" 

I might mention other symptoms of unbelief; 
but these are sufficient to enable the reader to de- 
termine whether he is under its fearful influence. 

7. We can now see why it is that the religion 
of the majority of professing Christians waxes and 
wanes with external circumstances. Who does 
not know that this is the case with a very great 
proportion of the church ? If religion is revived 
around them, they are excited and active. If it 
declines, " the love of many waxes cold." They 
lie down and slumber with the rest. What is the 
cause of such a state of things ? I answer : 

(1.) The religion of such persons is not a religion 
of love. If it were so, as soon as religion begins 
to decline, instead of going with the multitude, 
they would begin to " sigh and cry for the abomi- 
nations" which are being done around them. 

(2.) Theirs is not a religion of faith. Faith 



12 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

" looks not at things seen and temporal, but at 
things unseen and eternal." The religion of faith, 
therefore, is independent, for its strength and con- 
tinuance, upon external circumstances. " It en- 
dures as seeing Him who is invisible." 

(3.) It is not Christ, but external circumstances, 
which sustain and influence such persons. " Jesus 
Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
Those who are really sustained and influenced by 
faith in Him, will, indeed, be as " Mount Zion, 
which can not be moved." When circumstances 
around them are unfavorable, He will " give 
more grace." " As thy days, so shall thy strength 
be." 

8. What then must we think of the condition 
and prospects of a great proportion of professing 
Christians % Let the reader attentively examine 
the ninth chapter of Ezekiel, and there learn who, 
and who only, have the mark of God in their fore- 
heads. " And he called to the man clothed in lin- 
en, which had the writer's ink-horn by his side ; 
and the Lord said unto him, go through the city, 
through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark 
upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry 
for all the abominations that be done in the midst 
thereof. And to the others he said in my hear- 
ing, Go after him, and smite ; let not your eye 
spare, neither have ye pity : slay utterly old and 
young, both maids, and little children, and women ; 
but come not near any man upon whom is the 
mark ; and begin at my sanctuary." But one sol- 
itary class, as we see, was spared; those who, 
amid abounding wickedness, " sighed and cried for 
all the abominations" which were being done 
around them. In all the churches of the living 
God, this one class only now stand approved in his 
sight, as "the heirs of the grace of life." Reader, 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 13 

when " judgment shall begin at the house of God," 
where will you appear ? 

9. The true spirit of the gospel, that which 
distinguishes the sincere believer from all other 
men, next claims our attention. It is all compre- 
hended in this — implicit faith or confidence in 
every truth of God, firm reliance upon all his 
" exceeding great and precious promises," and 
filial, unreserved obedience to all his command- 
ments. There is but one thing that such an indi- 
vidual really fears, and that is sin. As from the 
pains of u the second death," he flies from it him- 
self, and from all incentives and allurements to it, 
and in the deep sincerity of his heart, " sighs and 
cries" when others perpetrate it. This, reader, is 
the true Christian. This was the spirit of Him 
whose name we bear ; and remember, " if any man 
have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 

10. I not unfrequently meet with the question, 
How shall we obey the great precept ? " Whether, 
therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God." How shall we demean 
ourselves in respect to food, drink, and dress, and 
the business relations and transactions in life, for 
example, so that we shall therein glorify God ? 
We are now prepared for a specific answer to such 
inquiries, inquiries of vast importance to every one 
who would " have respect to all God's command- 
ments." 

Let us suppose that an individual, in all his busi- 
ness transactions and arrangements, maintains a 
strict adherence to the principles of integrity, and 
to the demands of the great law of love, " Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and that he 
seeks the guidance of wisdom from above in the 
disposal of all that Providence commits to his trust, 
regarding himself in all such relations as the stew- 
B 



14 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ard of God, the servant of Jesus Christ. Such an 
individual will glorify God in his business transac- 
tions as really and truly, as the minister does in the 
most hallowed duties of his sacred calling. Thus 
every individual may glorify Christ in all the varied 
circumstances and relations in life. The applica- 
tion of the principle under consideration to the 
regulation of our conduct in respect to food, drink, 
and dress, is manifest. " Every creature of God is 
good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received 
with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified," that is, 
its appropriate use is a service, rendered virtue in 
us, and acceptable to God, " by the Word of God, 
and prayer." The great truth, here presented is 
this : Every object which God created, he brought 
into being for a certain end. When from respect 
to what is in itself right, and to the will of the great 
Giver of all, we use such object for the end for 
which it was created, we honor God in its use. 
Our mental and physical constitution was created 
for a certain end, an end of which no one is igno- 
rant. Food, drink, and apparel are requisite to 
this end. When from a sacred regard, and in 
strict subordination to this end, we gratify and 
regulate these propensities, never in obedience to 
the demands of pride, custom, or appetite, viola- 
ting the laws of life and health, we then " glorify 
God in our bodies and spirits, which are His." 
Thus, while we acknowledge God in all our ways, 
everywhere, and in all things, " He directs our 
paths" to his own glory. One of the most melan- 
choly features of the prevailing religion of the pres- 
ent time, is the almost total divorcement of the 
fear of God, and respect for his laws, from the or- 
dinary transactions of life. How few remember 
that every work is to be brought into judgment, 
with every secret thing, whether it be good or 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 15 

whether it be evil. It is a fearful thing, reader, 
to " defile the temple of God," and that temple, 
remember, is the mortal body which you now in- 
habit. 

Reader — does God thus receive glory from you 1 
" He that is faithful in the least, is faithful also in 
much. He that is unjust in the least, is unjust also 
in much." -, v 

11. "We see how it is, that individuals lose the 
presence of Christ, when they leave their closets, . 
or the house of God, and engage in business, when 
on a journey, or when brought into new and un- 
tried circumstances. The reason is, that they do 
not admit that Christ has provided special grace for 
them in those particular circumstances, or they do 
not avail themselves of that grace. If this were 
so, " the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, would keep their hearts and minds," at 
all times and under all circumstances. Christ will 
be with you, Christian, as the joy, the rest, the life, 
and peace of your soul, whenever and wherever you 
have faith to apprehend and receive Him. When- 
ever your faith abandons Him, then He leaves you 
in darkness and the shadow of death. 

12. We see how it is, that many professors of 
religion destroy their influence as Christians, when 
they are not at all aware of the fact. It is through 
the temper and spirit which they manifest, in the 
particular spheres of active life in which they are 
called to move. For example, a clerk in a store, 
who was under deep conviction of sin, and appa- 
rently on the point of submission to God, was 
turned backward, and rendered an infidel, in con- 
sequence of detecting his employer, a professed 
Christian, in an attempt to defraud a stranger out 
of six cents, in the sale of a trifling article. The 
exhortations to repentance from that merchant 



16 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

could have no influence over that young man, after 
the disclosure of such a spirit. How many chil- 
dren are hardened into an incurable obstinacy 
against religion, in consequence of the ill temper 
of their parents in the domestic circle. Reader, 
is the blood of no deathless spirit sprinkled upon 
your garments, in consequence of your conduct in 
some unguarded hour ] Does religion so influence 
you in every sphere and relation in life, that your 
entire deportment is a standing reproof against sin, 
and not an excuse for it 1 

13. We may understand the great defect in the 
gospel, as apprehended by the mass of Christians 
at the present time. One glaring and melancholy 
defect is, that Christ is contemplated almost exclu- 
sively as a Savior from hell, and not as a Savior 
from sin — as a justifying, and not as a sanctifying 
Savior. Another is, that the gospel, as now appre- 
hended, has comparatively little to do with men in 
their particular and varied relations in life. They 
expect the gospel to influence them in the closet 
and on the Sabbath, but to have very little to do 
with them in the ordinary transactions of life. 

The gospel, when thus contemplated, can have 
but little influence upon Christians themselves, oi 
upon the world through them. On the other hand, 
when Christ is recognized and received, as the 
parents' and the child's, as the husband's and the 
wife's, as the farmer's, the mechanic's, and the 
merchant's Savior — when every believer, in every 
sphere and relation in life, shall look to Christ as 
a special Savior to him in that particular sphere 
and relation in which, for the time being, he is 
called to move — then will the power of the gospel 
be felt in the church, and through the church upon 
the world. This, reader, is the gospel of Christ 
Christ has come as a Savior to us, in every condi 



THE GOSPEL PLAN. 17 

tion and relation in life. The promises and provi- 
sions of His grace cover our entire necessities, here 
and hereafter. There is no condition or relation 
in life where His grace is not extended, and where 
it will not be sufficient for us, if we have faith to 
receive it. Remember, " the just shall live by 
faith." Remember, also, the fearful declarations, 
"If ye will not believe, ye shall not be estab- 
lished ;" "If any man draw back, my soul shall 
have no pleasure in him." 

Such, I repeat, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Such a Savior is Jesus Christ to all who will re- 
ceive and trust in Him. Do you love this gospel] 
Have you faith to receive such a Savior % If you 
can thus receive Him, not one "jot or tittle" of all 
that He has spoken and promised shall fail of its 
accomplishment in your blessed experience. " If 
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him 
that believeth." 

" So let our lips and lives express, 
The holy gospel we profess ; 
So let our works and virtues shine, 
To prove the doctrine all-divine." 

B 2 



SERMON II. ' ^ft*^* 

THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 

This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask 
any thing according to His will, He heareth us : and if we know 
that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the 
petitions that we desired of Him.— 1 John, v., 14, 15. 

In the preceding verse, the Apostle informs us, 
that his object in writing this Epistle was, to im- 
part to believers a knowledge of the fact, that they 
have in Christ eternal life, and to induce in them 
the continued exercise of faith in the Son of God. 
" These things have I written unto you that believe 
on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know 
that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe 
on the name of the Son of God." In the text he 
imparts to us a knowledge of the nature of that 
faith which we are required to exercise in Christ. 
" This is the confidence that we have in Him ;" 
that is, this is the nature of that confidence or faith 
which the true believer exercises in Christ. It is 
the assurance, that whenever we ask of God any 
thing " according to His will, He will hear us," and 
bestow upon us the blessings which we desire of 
Him. This is true faith, as it looks to God, through 
Christ, for the supply of all real necessities. In 
discussing this subject, I propose to elucidate the 
following propositions : 

I. The meaning of the phrase, "according 
to His will," as used in the text. 

II. The relations of Christ to the believer 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 19 

WHEN HE ASKS FOR BLESSINGS "ACCORDING TO THE 
WILL OF GoD." 

III. The nature of the confidence referred 

TO IN THE TEXT. 

IV. The infinite obligations resting upon 
US TO exercise such confidence. 

I. " The meaning of the phrase " According to 
His will" as used in the text. 

The term " will," as applied to God, is used 
in various and quite different senses in the Bible. 
Sometimes it is applied to the divine purposes or 
determinations. " Even so, it is not the will," that 
is, purpose, determination, or intention, of your 
Father which is in heaven, " that one of these 
little ones should perish." It is also applied to the 
commands of God — " doing the will of God," that 
is, obeying the commands of God, " from the heart." 
It is sometimes used in a sense still different, to 
designate that which corresponds with the promises t[{ 
of God, or with the benevolent feelings of his heart. 
Thus the Spirit is said to " make intercession for 
the saints according to the will of God;" that is, 
for objects which correspond with the divine prom- 
ises, and with the benevolent feelings of the di- 
vine mind. That the phrase " according to His 
will" is used in this last sense in the text, includ- 
ing, of course, that which is conformable to the 
commands of God, I argue, from the following con- 
siderations : 

1. The absurdity of understanding the phrase, 
as applied to the secret purposes of God. The 
meaning of the phrase would then be, " If we ask 
any thing according to His will," that is, which God 
had previously determined to bestow upon us, we 
shall be heard, and have the blessings which we de- 
sire. But such blessings we shall enj oy, whether we 



20 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ask for them or not. Prayer would thus be utterly- 
useless. The question, also, whether our prayers 
would be according to the divine will, would be 
accidental, and not depend at all upon the ques- 
tion whether prayer, in respect to its spirit and 
object, corresponds with the divine will, as ex- 
pressed in the commands and promises of God. 

2. Christ was not appointed as Mediator between 
God and man, that we, through Him, may secure 
the accomplishment of the secret purposes of God. - 
Faith can never fasten upon Christ for any such 
object. He was appointed as Mediator, however, 
that through Him the believer may secure in him- 
self the accomplishment of the " exceeding great 
— - and precious promises." Whenever, therefore, 
the prayer of the believer fastens upon any bless- 
ing proffered to our faith through the promises, he 
then asks for that which is " according to the will 
of God," as the phrase is used in the text. Such 
prayer is everywhere represented in the Bible as 
pleasing in the sight of God, and of course as cor- 
responding with the divine will, as expressed, not 
only in the promises, but also in the divine require- 
ments. 

But an important question here arises : What are 
the blessings which are " according to the will of 
God," in the sense in which the phrase has now 
been explained ] I answer, any blessing, whether 
temporal or spiritual, the possession of which 
^ would be to us, in our circumstances, a real good. 
Whenever we ask for any such blessing, we ask 
for that which is " according to the will of God.'' 
This is evident, from two considerations : 

1. All such blessings are proffered to our faith 
in the promises. " They that seek -the Lord shall 
not want any good tiling ;" that is, any thing what- 
ever, the possession of which would be to them, in 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 21 

their circumstances, a real good. " My God shall 
supply all your need, according to his riches in 
glory, by Christ Jesus. ,, 

2. When the believer, in the simplicity of faith, 1 
prays for any such blessings, he asks for that which 
corresponds with the benevolent feelings of God's 
heart. A child asks an affectionate parent for 
some blessing which the parent sees would be to 
the child a real good. That petition, of course, 
meets a ready response in all the deep and tender 
sympathies of the parental heart. So with the be- 
liever, when his prayer fixes upon any thing which 
God sees would, if bestowed, be a real blessing to 
the petitioner. Such petition corresponds with 
all the benevolent feelings of God's heart of infinite 
and boundless love. The believer, then, asks for 
that which is " according to the will of God,''' in the 
sense of the text, when he prays for any thing, the 
possession of which ivould be to him, in his circum- , 
stances, a real blessing. 

II. We will now consider the relations of Christ 
to the believer, when he asks for things " according 
to the will of God." 

1. In all such petitions He permits us to use his 
name. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatso- 
ever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will 
give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in 
my name : ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy 
may be full." " And whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be 
glorifie d in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in 
my name, I will do it." " Ye have not chosen 
me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that 
ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your 
fruit should remain : that whatsoever ye shall ask 
of the Father in my name, He may give it you." 



22 THE TRUE BELIEVER. |A 0L* <V^ , 

Christian, have you comprehended the infinite 
privileges and boundless influence with God, which 
Christ has conferred upon you, in permitting you 
to use His name when you approach the throne of 
grace l Suppose Christ to be now upon the earth, 
as He was eighteen hundred years ago. He comes 
to you and requests you to make known to Him 
your wants, assuring you that He will then " pray 
the Father for you," that these wants may be fully 
met. You comply with his request. Christ kneels 
with you and fervently beseeches the Father that, 
for the sake of his Son, He will confer these 
blessings upon you. Would you not feel an abso- 
lute assurance that that prayer would be all-effica- 
cious to secure the good desired ] Now, in per- 
mitting you to use his name at the throne of grace, 
Christ has conferred upon you all the influence 
there, and that in respect to all necessities, tempo- 
* ral and spiritual, which He himself would have in 
I the circumstances supposed. A poor beggar calls 
for the supply of his wants upon a man who has 
great treasures in a bank. He writes a check, and 
directs the petitioner to go to the bank, and in 
his name to draw for the amount specified. How 
much influence has that beggar now at the bank, 
in reference to the sum named in that check] Just 
as much as the individual has whose name he is 
permitted to use. So, when Christ says to you, 
" Ask in my name," He has conferred upon you, in 
reference to all appropriate objects of prayer, all 
the influence that He himself has at the throne of 
grace. He has put into your hands a check upon 
the bank of Heaven, signed by his own name; a 
check covering all your necessities, temporal and 
spiritual, in time and eternity, and required you by 
virtue of His name to draw upon the Father, till 
every want of yours is perfectly met — -till your cup 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 23 ■ 

of blessedness is full and overflows forever. " Hith- 
erto ye have asked nothing in my name : ask, and 
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." 

2. Christ not only permits us to use His name 
when we approach the throne of grace, but Him- 
self, as our great High Priest, stands in the pres- 
ence of the Father and intercedes for us. " Where- 
fore He is able to save them to the uttermost who 
come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to 
make intercession for them.' , Suppose the beggar, 
in the case above referred to, says to his benefactor, 
I have no doubt that your name would be sufficient 
to gain my object, if I could secure a hearing. But 
they know me only as a beggar, and will at once 
drive me from their presence, without hearing me 
at all. His friend, to allay his fears, says, I will go 
with you, and when you present your paper, I will 
request them to give you a hearing, assuring them 
that my name is appended to the paper which you 
present. So, when Christ says to the believer, 
" Ask in my name," He adds, " I also will pray the 
Father for you," that your petitions may be heard 
and answered. Such are the relations of Christ 
to the believer whenever he approaches the throne 
of grace for the supply of any real necessity. 

III. Tlie nature of the confidence referred to in 
the text. 

This confidence implies two things : 
1. A full assurance, that the use of Christ's 
name, together with his intercession, will be effi- 
cacious to gain the ear and heart of God, so as to 
^ secure a liearing to our requests. " And this is 
the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask 
any thing according to his will, He hcareth us." 
Thus, the beggar, while conscious of utter poverty, 
and destitute of all influence at the bank, rests 



24 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

with perfect fixedness in the assurance that his 
friend's name, together with his personal influence, 
will secure him a favorable hearing. So of faith in 
Christ. Its language is — Though infinitely guilty 
and vile in myself, and utterly destitute of all in- 
fluence at the throne of grace, should I approach 
it in my own name, and while it would be infinitely 
dishonorable in God to listen to me for a moment, 
should I thus approach, yet I know and am assured, 
that the name of Christ, together with his interces- 
sion in my behalf, will reach the ear and heart of 
God, so that He will listen with deep and tender 
interest to my requests. And, Christian, what an 
infinite privilege is here revealed to us, the privi- 
lege of knowing, that when we pray, we are in the 
very audience chamber of the Most High, in the 
Holy of Holies of his sacred presence ; that we 
are uttering our petitions directly into the ear of 
the infinite God ; that He is listening, with deep 
and attentive interest, to all our requests, and that 
every want we disclose strikes a chord, which 
vibrates to the very center of his heart. Faith in 
Christ renders all this a felt reality to the believer. 
It enters as a fundamental element into the " con- 
fidence which we have in Him." 

2. The confidence here referred to, implies the 
certain assurance that the name of Christ, together 
with his intercession, will be efficacious, not only 
to reach the ear and heart of God, so as to secure 
a favorable hearing, but also to secure the bestow- 
ment of the blessings which we desired of Him. 
" If we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, 
we know that we have the petitions that we de- 
sired of Him." The beggar, as he contemplates 
the name of his benefactor, together with his per- 
sonal influence now exerted in his behalf, says, 
with joyful assurance, I know that I shall not only 



THE BELIEVER^ CONFIDENCE. 25 

be heard, but that I shall also obtain the object I 
am seeking. So faith, in the heart of the believer, 
uses the name of Christ, and rests in his interces- { 
sion, with the fixejUissiULance that his name and 
intercession will be all-influential to secure the 
supply of every real necessity, whatever it may be. 
>> In Christ " alffullness dwells." Faith recognizes 
/ itSelFaiT" 'complete in Him," in respect to every 
real want, here and hereafter. The believer, in 
the exercise of faith, under the deepest sense of 
his own infinite vileness and ill-desert, uses the 
name of Christ, and rests in his intercession, with 
the full assurance, that in so doing, he shall realize 
in his own experience the entire fulfillment of the 
promise, " They that seek the Lord shall not want 
9&y good thing." When his mind fixes upon any 
blessing, temporal or spiritual, and ilTassured that 
the possession of it would be to him, in his circum- 
stances, a real good, he feels the most perfect 
assurance that, through the name and intercession 
of Christ, he can obtain that blessing from God. 

Such, Christian, is the nature of faith in Christ; 
and let me ask you, Is this the character of the 
" confidence which you have in Him 1" You never 
pray without assuring your heavenly Father, that 
you present every petition in the name of Christ. 
With what feelings do you use that dear and ven- 
erable name ? Is it with the peaceful assurance 
tlmtlFwiTrbe efficacious to secure " the petitions 
which you desire of Him 1" So far as you are 
destitute of this felt assurance of the efficacy of his 
name to secure a full " supply of all your need," so 
far you are under the influence of cruel unbelief. 
Let me repeat the question, Christian — What is 
the character of the " confidence which you have 
in Christ ?" Do you feel in your heart, that the 
privilege of using the name of Christ and availing 
C 



26 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

yourself of his intercession at the throne of grace, 
has placed you in such relations to God that, from 
this time forth, you need not " want any good 
thing," that you may now " ask and receive, till 
your joy is full," till your cup of blessedness over- 
flows forever ] This is true faith, as it uses the 
name of Christ at the throne of grace. 

IV. The infinite obligations resting upon us to 
exercise such confidence. 

1. You know, absolutely, Christian, God's rjower 
to bestow. You know, perfectly, that He isaoTe 
to meet, fully and entirely, every want of yours, in 
time and eternity. Now, when Christ has told you 
to go in his name to his Father, and draw upon 
Him till " your joy is full," when He has promised 
Himself to intercede for you, when you thus ap- 
proach the throne of grace — what excuse have you 
for not going with the fullest assurance that every 
want will be met, and that " no good thing will 
He withhold from you I" Do you feel the press- 
ure of some special want ? You know that that 
particular necessity God is perfectly able to meet. 
Christ has told you to carry that want to his Father, 
and in the name of the Son of his love, ask Him 
to meet it. Why, then, should you not comply 
with the injunction of Christ, with the most perfect 
assurance that you will " have the petition which 
you desired of Him ?" 

2. The appointment of Christ as Mediator, has 
removed all obstacles, so far as God is concerned, 
to the bestowment of any blessing in his power to 
bestow. As soon as you are ready by faith to re- 
ceive the good thus provided for and proffered to 
you, no reason in the universe exists why any 
real blessing should be withheld from you. Of 
this you are aware. Why, then, should you not 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 27 

use the name of Christ, and rest in the efficacy of 
his intercession, with perfect assurance that, when 
you " ask, you will receive till your joy is full," 
hat " whatsoever you ask of the Father in Christ's 
name He will give it you V* Where is the excuse 
for unbelief? 

3. The mediation of Christ renders it in the 
highest sense honorable in God to bestow the 
richest possible blessings, in answer to requests ~~ 
presented in the name of Christ. Whatever bless- 
ings are bestowed on Christ's account, even upon 
the chief of sinners, no injury results to the char- 
acter of God, or to the interests of the universe ; 
but infinite glory results to Christ. The richer 
the blessings thus bestowed, the higher the honor 
conferred upon Him. When it is known, that the 
bank always meets the drafts of an individual, 
whatever the amount may be, and by whomsoever 
the draft is presented, this is the highest honor 
which such an institution can confer upon such an V 
individual. The individual presenting the draft is 
not honored at all, but the individual on whose 
account it is met. So when God bestows blessings 
upon us on Christ's account, and in answer to re- 
quests presented in his name, He honors not us, 
but Christ. And when it is known that the name 
of Christ, even when presented by the chief of 
sinners, is efficacious to secure the richest bless- 
ings in God's power to bestow, and an all-sufficient 
reason why they should be conferred, then it is, 
that the highest conceivable glory results to Christ. 
In the presence of such truths, Christ says to you, 
Go to the Father in my name, and " ask what you 
will, and it shall be done unto you." What ex- 
cuse, then, have you for not using the name of 
Christ, and resting in his intercession, with the 
most perfect confidence that " God shall supply all 



28 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

your need, according to his riches in glory by 
Christ Jesus ?" 

4. In the gift of Christ for our redemption, God 
/has given the most perfect demonstration of the 

-J feelings of his heart toward us. He has shown, 
clearly, that there is no blessing in his power to 
bestow, nothing in existence, the possession of 
which would be a blessing to us, which He does 
not desire to confer upon us. " He that spared 
not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, 
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all 
things V Now, to doubt the efficacy of Christ's 
name, to open the ear and move the heart of God, 
so as to secure a supply of any necessity which 
He is able to meet — what is it, but to call in ques- 
tion the love of God, as manifested in all the mys- 
teries of redemption ] Christian, are you not under 
obligations infinite to exercise this confidence ] 

5. To doubt, under such circumstances, is to 
/ call in question the efficacy of Christ's name and 

\ intercession with God, to secure the blessings which 
we need, and which are promised to all who ask 
in reliance upon the efficacy of his name and inter- 
cession. Suppose the beggar above referred to, 
while on the way to the bank with the check of 
his friend in his hand, and that friend himself by 
his side, manifests great fears and apprehensions, 
lest he shall not be heard and obtain the good he 
is seeking. Suppose he expresses such fears and 
apprehensions to the multitude around him, as he 
passes along. What is he doing but dishonoring 
his friend and benefactor, by proclaiming a distrust 
of the efficacy of his name and influence to secure 
the good which he has promised ] The injured 
man, after hearing his name dishonored a while, 
says to the object of his compassion, " Sir, please 
return me that check. I do not choose to have 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 29 

my name thus dishonored. You may now obtain 
a supply of your necessities elsewhere." Christian, 
dare you, by unbelief, by doubting, when asking 
in the name of Christ, and when you know that 
He stands before his Father to intercede for you, 
whether you " shall have the petitions which you de- 
sire of Him," dare you thus dishonor your Savior 1 
Can you expect, that He will ever allow you to use 
his name again 1 Is not this the most grievous and 
aggravated sin of which you can possibly be guilty 1 
6. Once more. To doubt, under such circum- 
stances, is to question the word of God. Christ 
has said, " Ask, and ye shall receive." " If ye ask 
any thing in my name, I will do it." To use the 
name of Christ without expecting to receive the 
" petitions which you desire of Him," what is it but 
to call in question the word of Christ'? Christian, 
can you endure the thought of doing it ] Unbe- 
lief does this. To ask in the name of Christ, 
doubting whether you will obtain the good you 
ask, does this. Shall your soul, Christian, be cut 
off from the infinite blessedness prepared for you, 
in consequence of doubting not only the efficacy 
of Christ's name and intercession, but also his 
positive word ] No, take the name of Christ, and 
in reliance upon his intercession, " come boldly to 
a throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and 
find grace to help in time of need." 

REMARKS. 

1. We are now prepared to contemplate one of 
the great mysteries of redemption. It is this :-— Jn 
himself tlie Christian has nothing. No being in" 
the universe is poorer, more " miserable, and blind, 
and naked, and in want of all things." Yet, .in 
Christ, and in consequence of his relation to Him, 
"hejias all things." No being in the universe is 
' — c2 



30 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

richer. No being has greater "power with God," 
or can obtain greater blessings from Him. And 
all this takes place on principles perfectly honor- 
able to God, and equally consistent with the inter- 
ests of the universe. 

A man in one of our eastern cities had failed for 
a large amount. His credit was gone. His family 
was reduced to poverty, and himself involved in 
liabilities amounting to several hundred thousand 
dollars. He delivered his whole estate into the 
hands of his creditors, and stood penniless*, and worse 
than penniless, before the world. He had a brother, 
however, who was known in that city as possessed 
of great wealth. From this brother he received a 
power of attorney to transact business in his name. 
On the authority of that brother, through the influ- 
ence of his name, which he was permitted to use, 
he at once commenced business as one of the most 
efficient and prosperous merchants in the city. " In 
myself," said this individual to a friend of mine, "I 
have no credit at all. No man will trust me with 
a single bale of goods ; yet I am really worth all 
that my brother is worth. I can make any pur- 
chases, and upon the same terms that he can. I 
sometimes illustrate this fact, by first offering to 
purchase of an individual on my own credit. He 
will not trust me a farthing. I tell him that I wish 
to obtain the goods on my brother's account. I 
can then purchase every article in his store." 

So with the Christian. If he approaches the 
throne of grace in his own name, God thunders 
eternal terrors upon him. But if he approaches in 
the name of Christ, God bows his «ar, and listens 
with infinite tenderness to his request. He opens 
all the treasures of eternity, and bids the suppliant 
" ask what he will, and it shall be done unto him." 
No angel before the throne has a title to an estate 



i 

THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 31 

more vast. No one, I repeat, can obtain greater 
blessings from God than he. " O the depths of 
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God ! How unsearchable are His judgments, and 
His ways past finding out !" In the mysteries 
of redemption infinite extremes meet. Yet such 
are the ways of God to men. Such, Christian, 
are your privileges consequent on your relations to 
Christ. 

2. You may now, Christian, be ready to ask, on 
what conditions all this blessedness may be yours ] 
If you would enjoy all the good provided for you 
through the grace of Christ, there must be, on your 
part, in the first place, a deep sense of need. In 
yourself you have nothing to recommend you to 
God but infinite guilt, poverty, and wretchedness. 
Christ expects you to feel and acknowledge this, 
when you appear at the throne of grace in His 
name. There must be implicit confidence, too, in 
the efficacy of Christ's name and intercession, to 
obtain for you any blessing you need ? Christian, 
do you feel this, when you use the name of Christ 
at the throne of grace ] Can you repose in that 
name as all-efficacious to procure for you any 
blessing you need ] There must be, also, an act- 
ual application to God in every time of need, and 
in respect to every necessity, in full reliance upon 
the efficacy of the name and intercession of Christ, 
to secure a full supply of every want. On these 
simple conditions, " God will supply all your need, 
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 
There is not a want of yours, temporal or spirit- 
ual, during the interminable future before you, 
which He will leave unsupplied. 

3. In the light of this subject, we may under- 
stand the kind of expectation demanded of us 
when we pray for spiritual and temporal blessings. 



32 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

In respect to the former, we know certainly that 
the possession of all such blessings, in all their 
fullness, must be a good to us. Whenever, there- 
fore, we approach the throne of grace in the name 
of Christ, for such blessings, we are to expect to 
receive the identical blessings for which we pray. 
The absence of such expectation is unbelief. 
r- But when we pray for temporal blessings, we 
* do not, in many instances, certainly know that the 
possession of the particular object for which we 
pray would be a blessing to us. We are always to 
pray, therefore, for such blessings, expecting that 
the want which directed the mind to the particular 
object in view, shall be met, and met in the best 
possible manner. But whether it shall be met by 
the bestowment of the particular thing specified 
in prayer, or something else, here we are not to 
indulge any positive anticipations. This question 
God's wisdom is to decide." 

- 4. A very extensive and dangerous error, into 
which a large portion of the church have fallen, 
here demands a passing notice. The error is this : — 
There is great danger, it is thought, of raising ex- 
pectation too high, especially in young converts, in 
respect to the amount of blessedness in Christ 5 
which it is the privilege of the Christian to enjoy 
in this life. How careful many cold professors are 
to impress the young convert with the conviction, 
that the blessedness of his first love will not long 
continue — that however clear the light which now 
shines upon him may be, the " days of darkness 
will be many/' and long continued. This is done 
to prevent the depth of gloom consequent on hav- 
ing previous expectation too highly raised. Now, 
in respect to all finite objects, this is no doubt a 
wise precaution. How often, for example, is the 
influence of a minister greatly injured, in conse- 



V 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 33 

quence of public expectation having previously 
been raised too high respecting him. But in re- 
spect to the infinite and boundless grace and love of 
God, precisely the reverse is always true. Here ex 
pectation can not possibly equal the reality. "Eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have enter- 
ed into the heart of man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love Him." And when 
we approach the throne of grace in the name of 
Christ, and in humble reliance upon His interces- 
sion, instead of there being any danger of our 
coming with expectations too highly raised, we 
ought to come with the most peaceful and assured 
expectation of obtaining "exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think." Who can measure 
the boundless love of God? Who can measure, in 
anticipation, the amount of blessedness which the 
name of Christ can draw from that ocean of love, 
when that name is used by a strong and unwaver- 
ing faith at the throne of grace ? Never let us 
entertain a thought of raising expectation too high, 
while faith in the name of Christ keeps the heart 
and mouth open wide to receive the fullness which 
infinite love has prepared for us. 

5. A question of this kind may here arise in the 
minds of some : — If the Christian can obtain all 
real blessings through the name and intercession 
of Christ, why should he not ask for the instanta- 
neous conversion of the whole world, expecting to 
secure that result ? I answer, that could be ob- 
tained, were it on the whole best for the Christian, 
and best for the world, and were it in itself pos- 
sible. But God has told us what is the best way 
to have the world converted. It is by the " fool- 
ishness of preaching," attended with the sanctifi- 
cation, and consequent perfect blessedness of the 
church. Through such instrumentalities, and such 



34 THE TRUE BELIEVER, 

alone, is it proper to pray that the world may be 
converted to God. " Arise, shine ; for thy light is 
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the 
earth, and gross darkness the people : but the 
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall 
be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come 
to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy 
rising." 

6. You see, Christian, the reason why you do 
not possess all that fullness of joy and peace which 
it is your privilege to enjoy through the name and 
intercession of Christ. The want of this blessed- 
ness arises from one of two causes, or both com- 
bined : — 

(1.) A want of desire and preference of this very 
good. How few individuals would be satisfied to 
know that they will possess just that amount of 
temporal good, for example, and no more and no 
less than infinite wisdom and love sees would be 
best for them ? Yet unless you are in this pre- 
cise state of mind, it is impossible for God to bless 
you. You do not possess the amount of spiritual 
blessings which faith in the name of Christ would 
procure you, because you do not appreciate their 
value sufficiently to seek them with all your heart. 

(2.) Want of confidence in the efficiency of 
Christ's name and intercession to secure such 
blessings. " Let him ask in faith, nothing waver- 
ing ;" that is, doubting whether God will bestow 
the blessing asked. " For he that wavereth [doubt- 
eth] is like a wave of the sea, driven of winds and 
tossed. Let not that man think that he will re- 
ceive any thing of the Lord." Nothing can grieve 
the heart of our Savior so much, nothing can be 
so offensive to God, as to have the name of Christ 
used at the throne of grace, expecting that it will 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 35 

avail little to secure the blessings we need. Chris- 
tian, is not this the great cause of that deep and 
impenetrable gloom which covers your mind, if 
you are now in darkness — the long and frequent 
abuse of the dear name of Christ, as you have 
used it at a throne of grace ? Have you appre- 
ciated the value of the privilege conferred upon 
you in being permitted to ask in his name ] Have 
you reposed confidence in the efficacy of that 
name to procure the blessings you need, and espe- 
cially to fill your cup of blessedness, and cause 
it to overflow continually ] Whenever you ap- 
proached the mercy-seat with due confidence in 
the efficacy of the name of Christ, to secure " the 
petitions which you desire of Him," were you sent 
empty away ] Have you not always received "ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that you asked or 
thought V 

7. You may now, Christian, answer the ques- 
tion, whether you have real genuine faith in Christ 
or not. You know that it is your privilege to ask 
of the Father, in the name of Christ, for any bless- 
ing which you need. What confidence have you 
in the efficacy of that name, to secure the ear and 
move the heart of God? Do you believe, and is 
this truth a felt reality to your mind, that you may 
now, through the name of Christ alone, secure, not 
only a hearing at the throne of grace, but also a 
full supply of every necessity, here and hereafter ? 
Is " this the confidence that you have in Christ V 
If so, you have the faith which the gospel requires. 
If not, you are under the influence of unbelief. If 
you ever present a request to God in the name of 
Christ, without expecting that " He will hear you/' 
and that u you will have the petitions that you de- 
sired of Him," remember, that that prayer is put 
up, not in faith, but in unbelief. 



36 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

8. We may now understand the reason of the 
peace-giving power of faith. A merchant, we will 
suppose, on looking over his books, finds that on 
each often successive days, claims amounting to a 
hundred thousand dollars will be brought against 
him, and that each of these claims must be prompt- 
ly met, or he becomes a hopeless bankrupt. He 
finds his own resources wholly inadequate to such 
exigencies. His heart sinks into utter despon- 
dency. Just at this moment he receives a letter 
from his father, a man of untold wealth, informing 
him that, in anticipation of difficulties in which he 
might be involved, he had deposited in the bank 
for his use ten millions of dollars, and that he may 
now draw at will any amount which he may need. 
How instantly does this thick gloom give place to 
the highest animation and joy. He is no longer 
appalled at the greatness of his liabilities; because 
he knows that he has available resources, more 
than sufficient to meet them. So the Christian — 
as soon as his faith fixes upon Christ — knows, that 
whatever his necessities may be, he can, in the 
name, and through the intercession of Christ, draw 
upon the resources of infinite love, till at all times, 
and under all circumstances, his joy is full, till all 
his wants, however vast and multiplied, are per- 
fectly met. The natural and necessary result is, 
" peace as a river, and righteousness as the waves 
of the sea." Faith in Christ removes every care, 
and ke§ps the mind in perfect peace, because it 
reveals boundless available resources to meet every 
possible exigency. " Therefore, will we not fear, 
though the earth be removed, and though the mount- 
ains be carried into the midst of the sea." Why ? 
" The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob 
is our refuge." When the believer looks only at 
himself, and contemplates his condition as a sinner, 



THE BELIEVER'S CONFIDENCE. 37 

the greatness of his guilt, the vastness of his neces- 
sities, the strength of his sinful propensities, and 
the number and power of his enemies, he will be 
appalled. But when the eye of faith turns to 
Christ, all fear, and all apprehension arising from 
these causes, are swallowed up and lost in the 
boundless resources which then open upon the en- 
raptured vision. 

9. How reasonable the precepts, " Be careful 
for nothing," " Rejoice in the Lord always," &c. 
How practicable obedience to such precepts ap- 
pears, when contemplated in the light of this sub- 
ject. Who can describe the infinite sweetness 
that dwells in that divine declaration, " Ye are 
complete in Him V Why should we not " be care- 
ful for nothing," and " rejoice in the Lord always," 
when every demand of our being is so perfectly 
met in the infinite fullness that there is in Christ % 
Christian : 

" Why that look of sadness 1 
Why that downcast eye } 
Can no thought of gladness 
Lift thy soul on high ? 

O, thou heir of heaven, 

Think of Jesus' love ; 
While to thee is given 

All his grace to prove." 

10. We may now understand the true meaning 
of the command, " Let us come boldly to a throne 
of grace." The beggar, as he thinks of the name 
attached to the check which he holds in his hand, 
and of the friend by his side who is to be surety for 
him at the bank, says to himself, I know that I 
shall obtain my object. So the Christian, when he 
thinks of the name which he is permitted to use at 
the throne of grace, and of the Intercessor that 
stands to plead for him there, says, in the simpli- 
city and energy of his faith, " I know that whatso- 

D 



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BUbj( - i Fh< fol in, i UCM i i in. mum mi | i I, u in 

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; but in respect to the 
.od, to " sanctify us wholly, 
and preserve loss, unto the c< t our 

X Jesus Christ," it maintains that we are to 
use the same dear name with the certain expecta- 
tion of not "having the petitions which wo desirod 
of Him." 

Christian, when nearest my God, in the most 
hallowed moments of all my Christian experience, 
I know that that doctrine can not be true. And 
may I not say, that in the depth of your soul, you 
know it also % Are these the " good tidings of 



THE BELIEVER S CONFIDENCE. 39 

great joy," which He who was anointed of God to 
bind up all that are broken-hearted, has to pro- 
claim to those who are bound in servitude to sin, 
that He will never break from their necks the 
yoke of Satan, till He takes them out of the world ? 
Christian, the gospel " speaks better things" to the 
weary and tempest-tossed believer. It says to him, 
61 Ask and receive, that your joy may be full." 
" Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of 
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace 
to help in time of need." 

12. A few words to my impenitent readers will 
close this discourse. Sinner, your necessities are 
infinite ; and if you long remain under them, they 
will sink you down into eternal death. Provisions 
now exist, in the gospel, to meet all those necessi- 
ties. You also may approach the throne of grace, 
in the name of Christ, and obtain eternal redemp- 
tion. But if you refuse to "seek the Lord while 
He may be found," and " to call upon Him while 
He is near," how changed must your condition 
soon be ! Soon there will be a " great gulf fixed" 
between you and all that is pure, and holy, and 
blessed, in the universe. Soon you may to all 
eternity call for the least conceivable blessing, and 
it will not be granted you. Shall that time, reader, 
ever come with you ] Shall this be your fearful 
doom ; and shall that doom receive an infinite ag- 
gravation from the recollection of what you might 
have been, had you availed yourself of the present 
opportunity ? " He that is wise shall be wise for 
himself. He that scorneth, He alone shall bear it." 



SERMON III. 

FULLNESS OF JOY 

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall 
receive, that your joy may be full. — John, xvi., 24. 

Introductory to the train of thought which I 
design to pursue in the present discourse, I would 
direct the attention of the reader to the following 
observations : 

1. It is a fundamental design of our Savior in 
the arrangements of His grace, that the gospel 
shall be, to all who truly embrace it, a life-giving 
and a peace-giving gospel. " All thy children shall 
be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace 
of thy children." " The redeemed of the Lord 
shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; 
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head : they 
shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and 
mourning shall flee away." " Come unto me, all 
ye' that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, 
and my burden is light." " Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you ; not as the world 
giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be- 
troubled, neither let it be afraid." " Howbeit when 
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you 
into all truth ; for He shall not speak of Himself; 
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak : 
and He will show you things to come." "The 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 41 

Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the 
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to 
the meek ; He hath sent me to bind up the broken — — 
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
the opening of the prison to them that are 
bound.'' 

2. It is a design equally fundamental, that the 
peace which the believer receives through the gos- 
pel, shall be at all times, and under all circum--- ^ 
stances, full, permanent, and uninterrupted. " Who- 
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, 
shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water, springing up 
into everlasting life." " These things have I spo- 
ken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, - 
and that your joy might be full." " The sun shall 
be no more thy light by day ; neither for bright- 
ness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the 
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and 
thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go 
down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for 
the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the 
days of thy mourning shall be ended." 

3. This blessedness the Bible represents as 
the common experience of primitive Christians. 
" Whom [Jesus Christ] having not seen, ye love ; 
in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believ- 
ing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory/' 

4. It is declared that it is through this fullness 
of joy in the believer, as seen and apprehended by 
the world, that the world is to be converted to ^ 
Christ. " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and 
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For be- 
hold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross 
darkness the people ; but the Lord shall arise upon 
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And 

d2 



42 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to 
the brightness of thy rising." 

5. On this account, this fullness of joy is pre- 
sented in the Bible, not only as the privilege of the 
believer, but it is required of him as a sacred duty. 
" Rejoice in the Lord always ; and again I say re- 
joice." " Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord." 

6. Hence we see, Christian, that just as far as 
you are destitute of this "fullness of joy," just so 
far you are disqualified for the great work to which 
God has called you. " The joy of the Lord is your 
strength." If the joy of the Lord dwell not in 
you in all its fullness, your strength in his service 
will be weakness. 

7. Hence we also perceive, that any professed 
view of the redemption of Christ, the belief of 
■which is not adapted to fill up the Christian's cup 
of blessedness and cause it to overflow continually, 
can not be from heaven. To suppose this, is to 
suppose the gospel to embrace palpable contradic- 
tions ; that the belief of its truths is adapted to 
defeat one of the revealed purposes of redemption, 
The object of the present discourse will be to 
illustrate the following propositions : 

I. The state of the individual whose joy is 

FULL IN THE SENSE OF THE TEXT. 

II. The objects embraced in the command 

AND PROMISE, " ASK, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE." 

III. The obligations resting upon all be 

LIEVERS TO ASK AND RECEIVE THIS FULLNESS OF 
JOY. 

IV. The spirit with which this blessedness 

SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 

I. The state of the individual whose joy is full in 
the sense of the text. 

The fullness of joy here referred to implies, I 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 43 

would say in general, a degree of blessedness cor- * 
responding with the capacities of the subject, in 
the circumstances of our present existence. The 
term " full," in its ordinary acceptation, denotes 
thus much, to whatever subject it is applied. To 
be particular, I would remark : 

1. That fullness of joy does not of necessity im- 
ply the entire absence of external affliction. On 
the other hand, the design of the Savior is, that 
the peace-giving power of the gospel shall be ren- 
dered preeminently conspicuous, in consequence 
of its filling the believer's cup of blessedness, even 
in the " furnace of affliction." " When thou passest 
through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through 
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou 
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." How 
glorious the gospel appears, when it is seen to pos- 
sess the power, not only to fill the believer's cup 
of blessedness in the midst of such afflictions, but 
to cause him even to "rejoice in tribulation," and 
to render him in the midst of " persecution, famine, 
nakedness, peril, and sword," " more than con- 
queror, through Him that loved him." We may 
readily conceive that an individual might be brought 
into such a relation to external afflictions the most 
calamitous, that they shall constitute an important 
ingredient of his fullness of joy. 

It would be in itself a great calamity to an indi- 
vidual to have the house containing his whole 
estate, consumed by fire. Suppose, however, that 
the conflagration reveals to him treasures a hun- 
dred times more valuable than all that he before 
possessed — treasures which, but for that calamity, 
he would never have discovered. The otherwise 
untoward event ever after becomes a source of 
great blessedness to him. A true patriot, also, 



44 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

would rejoice in the loss of all his worldly posses- 
sions, if by that means his country could be saved. 
So the Christian, when by faith he perceives, 
that all his "light afflictions which are but for a 
moment, are working out for him a far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory" — when he 
perceives, also, that by these same afflictions Christ 
is honored and His kingdom advanced — then, in- 
deed, he "rejoices in tribulation." The believer's 
love to Christ also may, and ought to be, so great 
as to render all afflictions endured for His sake, 
sources of the highest blessedness. It was so with 
primitive believers. Among the sources of their 
purest gratitude and joy was the fact, that they 
were " counted worthy to surfer shame for the name 
of Christ." 

2. Nor does fullness of joy imply the entire 
absence of all physical suffering. For the reasons 
above stated, the mind may be brought into such 
a relation to physical sufferings, that they may con- 
stitute important ingredients in its cup of blessed- 
ness. A young man was called to undergo a 
surgical operation, through which there was but a 
faint probability that he could live to pass. Before 
it commenced he was told that if, at any time, there 
should be a cessation in the operation, he might 
know that it was unsuccessful, and that he would 
die under it. At length, for reasons not anticipated 
by the operators, there was a pause. It was to the 
subject a moment of inconceivable suspense and 
agony. He dared not speak. That might be death 
to him. But was not the deep silence around the 
certain indication of speedy dissolution % Soon, 
however, a painful sensation indicated that the 
operation had been resumed. O, he said, that 
painful sensation was to him the most blissful feel- 
ing that he had ever experienced. The mind of 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 45 

that young man was brought into such a relation to 
bodily pain of a certain kind, that it was a source 
of the highest blessedness to him. Now, the gos- 
pel is able to bring the mind into a similar relation 
to physical suffering of every kind whjch we are 
called to endure in this life ; and this it does ac- 
complish for all who exercise the faith which is 
required. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
whose mind is stayed on thee." The Bible does 
not promise to the believer perfect freedom from 
physical suffering. It does, however, on the con- 
dition of simple faith, promise " perfect peace," or 
entire fullness of joy. Consequently, it promises 
to bring the believer into such a relation to all 
physical suffering, that it shall not be a source of 
real unhappiness, but shall constitute one of the 
sources of that perfect peace into which steady and 
unwavering faith introduces the mind. 

James Brainerd Taylor speaks of bodily pain as 
a source of great blessedness to him, while his 
faith was reposing upon the bosom of Christ. 
Christ brought the mind of Paul into such a rela- 
tion, not only to external afflictions, but to physical 
sufferings, that he " took pleasure" in them. The 
same was true of primitive saints. The same is 
true, I repeat, of every believer whose faith is 
" steadfast and unmovable" in the promises of 
God. 

3. The fullness of joy referred to in the text, 
does not imply the total absence of what may be 
called mental sorroic. Perfect blessedness is that 
state which results from conscious obedience to all 
God's commandments. Among the divine require- 
ments we find a class of precepts like the follow- 
ing : " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep 
with them that weep." To pour out our hearts, 
then, for objects which demand tears of us, is not 



46 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

inconsistent with fullness of joy; but rather essen- 
tial to it. 

Let me say here, that every person who is deeply 
read in Christian experience, is fully aware of this 
fact. Such an individual is fully aware, that feel- 
ings of deep and tender sympathy for the afflicted 
and oppressed — that tears poured out like water 
over past sins, and over sinners exposed to the 
pangs of the second death — and that what may be 
called agonizing prayer for the redemption of lost 
men, are among the streams of pure and perfect 
blessedness which flow through a truly sanctified 
mind. To such a mind, such feelings and exer- 
cises are by no means unwelcome guests. They 
disturb not its deep repose upon the " bosom of 
bliss." On the other hand, they set in motion 
those profound and tender emotions which draw 
the soul into a state of blessedness more complete 
than could otherwise be enjoyed. 

4. Nor does fullness of joy imply, that the mind 
is always in a state of the highest conceivable 
ecstasy. Present circumstances and capacities of 
the mind do not permit it to be always in this 
state. Nor have we any evidence, that this is the 
fixed and unvarying form of the blessedness of 
heaven. There is, in a deep and pervading se- 
renity of mind, a blessedness as full and perfect, 
as in ecstatic joy. The mind may pass and repass 
from one of these states to the other, the character 
of the blessedness in such respects may almost con- 
tinually vary, and its joy always be full. "What, then, 
does the fullness of joy referred to imply 1 I answer : 

5. It implies the conscious absence of every 
thing which would be to the mind a real evil. 
" There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall 
any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Suppose 
the mind to be brought into such a conscious 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 47 

relation to God and the universe, that this pre- 
cious promise, in all its fullness, is fulfilled in 
its experience, and the mind itself is perfectly 
aware of the fact. It then possesses one of the 
essential elements of the fullness of joy under con- 
sideration. 

6. This state implies, the conscious available pos- 
session of every thing, the obtaining of which would 
be to the mind in its present state a real blessing, 
and which is necessary to meet perfectly every 
real want, every real demand of its being, here 
and in eternity. " All things work together for 
good to them that love God." " All things are 
yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the 
world, or life, or death, or things present, or things 
to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and 
Christ is God's." Whenever the mind comes into 
such a conscious relation as this to God, and to all 
beings and objects in time and eternity, its joy will 
be full. Its positive enjoyment will be as great as 
its present capacities and circumstances permit. 
What blessedness more pure, full, and perfect can 
we conceive of than this ] 

7. In short, the fullness of joy referred to in the 
text, implies the same blessedness, in kind and de- 
gree, as far as our capacities permit, which Christ 
enjoyed when on earth. " Peace," says Christ, 
" I leave with you, my peace," that is, the peace 
which I enjoy, " I give unto you." This, Christian, 
is the fullness of joy proffered to you in the gospel. 
This is the blessedness which it is both your duty 
and your privilege to enjoy. 

1 1. The objects embraced in the command and prom- 
ise, "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 

fuiir 

1. This command and promise do not embrace 



48 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

and proffer to us every thing which, for the time 
being, may appear to us to be a good. On account 
of our limited knowledge, the possession of certain 
things may appear to us necessary to the fullness 
of our joy ; while God may know, that they are not. 
Thus Paul felt, for a time, that the removal of " the 
thorn in his flesh' ' was necessary to his complete 
blessedness ; while to the mind of God, the highest 
happiness of the Apostle required the continuance 
of the thorn. But — 

2. This command and promise do embrace and 
proffer every thing which God sees necessary to our 
perfect blessedness ; that is, every thing really ne- 
cessary to the entire fullness of our joy. God knows 
perfectly what things are necessary to meet every 
demand of our being. "Whatever He sees to be 
necessary to this end, we are authorized and re- 
quired to look to Him, in the name of Christ, for, 
with the certain expectation of receiving it at his 
hands. " Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy 
may be full." Christian, whatever is necessary to 
fill your cup of blessedness, and keep it full, is here 
proffered to you. This is the table which infinite 
love has spread for us here in this wilderness. Let 
not unbelief reject the good thus tendered to us, 
because it is so great. Let us not " stagger at the 
promise of God, but be strong in the faith, giving 
glory to God." 

III. The obligations resting upon all believers, to 
"ask and receive this fullness of joy " 

1. This fullness of joy was left us by our Sav- 
ior, as a legacy, when He " ascended to his Fa- 
ther and our Father, to his God and our God." 
" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 
you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 
" These things I speak in the world, that they might 



FULLNESS 6F JOY. 49 

have my joy fulfilled in themselves." Whatever 
Christ has thus left us, we have no right to reject. ^ 
We wrong our own souls, we wrong our Savior, 
and the world, if we do it. 

2. Christ requires this of us. "Ask," [a positive 
command] " and it shall be given you, that your joy 
may be full." " Let the peace of God rule in your 
hearts, to which also ye are called in one body." 
Here we are not only required to let the peace 
which God enjoys rule in our hearts, but it is also 
declared, that the enjoyment of this blessedness is 
one of the great objects of our sacred calling as 
Christians. Christian, were you convicted of such 
Bins as falsehood, theft, or blasphemy, you would be 
overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and shame be- 
fore God and men. Did you ever reflect, that when 
M your joy is not full," and when the " peace of God 
does not rule in your hearts," you are living in dis- 
obedience to requirements equally sacred 1 You 
have no more right to be filled with care and per- 
plexity — you have no more right to let that " ach- 
ing void " within remain unfilled with "joy un- 
speakable and full of glory," than you have to 
" blaspheme the worthy name by the which you are 
called." 

3. Unless Christians possess this fullness of joy, 
Christ's testimony respecting the effects of believ- 
ing in Him, can never appear to the world as a re- \ 
ality. " He that believeth on me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me shall never die." " He that be- 
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life." " Whoso- 
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water, springing up 
into everlasting life." 

Christian, you profess to exercise the very faith 
E 



50 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

in Christ which is here referred to. You profess 
to have drank of the waters which He gives. Does 
your experience correspond with the above decla- 
rations of Christ ? If not, that experience affirms 
to the world, that his testimony is not true. As you 
would have the Savior appear to the world, as a 
faithful and true witness, you are bound to comply 
with the requirement of the text, " Ask, and ye 
shall receive, that your joy may be full." 

4. The honor of Christ, as the head of the church, 
requires that all believers shall possess this fullness 
of joy. You enter a family circle, and find, that 
the presence of the husband and father is a source 
of the highest blessedness to his household, and 
essential to their fullness of joy. How that hus- 
band and father is honored, in your estimation, by 
such a fact. On the other hand, suppose you find 
his presence a source of gloom and terror to that 
circle, and that they are blessed only when he is 
absent. What dishonor does such a fact attach to 
the character of the head of that family ! Now 
Christ sustains the same relation to the church, that 
the husband or father does to the family circle. If 
he is seen to be her life — if in his presence her joy 
is full, and in his service her " peace is as a river, 
and her righteousness as the waves of the sea," 
then He, as the head of the church, receives the 
highest honor before the world. But if the oppo- 
site is true of her experience in the service of 
Christ — if his yoke and burden appear to weigh 
her down into a state of gloom and despondency, 
the highest conceivable dishonor results to Christ 
before the world. The reproaches which ought to 

J fall upon her, fall upon Him. "Who will honor the 
dear and venerable name of Christ, when it has 
ceased to be a source of pure and perfect blessed- 
ness to his own friends ? What infinite guilt must 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 51 

rest upon us, if we thus dishonor our Savior, when 
He has permitted and required us to come to the 
throne of grace, and in His name " ask and receive 
till our joy is full." 

5. This fullness of joy in Christ is indispensable 
to the most energetic action in his service. " The 
joy of the Lord is our strength." When the pres- 
ence of Christ has rendered our blessedness com- 
plete, when it is a felt reality to our minds that we 
may, at all times, and under all circumstances, ap- 
proach the throne of grace, and in the name of 
Christ ask and receive a full supply of every ne- 
cessity ; then indeed, in his service, whatever bur- 
dens he lays upon us, we can " mount up on wings 
as eagles ; we can run and not be weary ; we can 
walk and not faint." But just as far as the " peace 
of God" does not " rule in our hearts," so far we 
are weak and powerless in his service. If then, 
Christian, you would be " strong in the Lord, and 
in the power of his might," stand at the throne of 
grace, and, in the name of Christ, " ask" till your 
"joy is full." 

6. Our influence with the world requires that 
we ourselves possess this fullness of joy. How val- 
uable must that gospel appear to sinners which is 
seen, under every variety of condition, to fill up . 
the believer's joy, and cause it to overflow continu- 
ally. How valuable must the name of Christ ap- 
pear to the sinner, when he sees that by and 
through that name, at the throne of grace, the ber 
liever can and does obtain a complete supply of 
every necessity ? — 

With what power and confidence, Christian, you 
can recommend that gospel and that dear and ven- J 
erable name to the sinner, when such has been 
their visible influence in your experience ! Do 
remember that just so far as they have failed to 



52 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

prove thus valuable in your experience, will their 
estimated value be diminished, when you recom- 
mend them to the world. 

IV. The spirit with which this blessedness should 
be sought. 

The great question is, In what attitude of mind 
does it become us, guilty and vile as we are, to ap- 
pear in the presence of God, to ask such a blessing 
at his hands ] When we contemplate the feelings 
of Mary, as she washed our Savior's feet with her 
tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, 
surely similar feelings become us, when we ap- 
proach the feet of our Father in heaven, and ask 
Him now to fill our cup of blessedness, and cause it 
to overflow forever. When also we contemplate the 
feelings of the aged apostle when he exclaimed, 
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons 
of God," surely similar feelings become us, when 
we ask of God a full and perfect supply of every 
necessity, in time and eternity. With what feel- 
ings, then, we should approach the throne of grace, 
to ask such infinite and boundless blessings as 
these ! 

1. It becomes us to appear in the attitude of 
the deepest penitence and contrition, and with the 
most humble and hearty confession of our guilt 
and vileness in his sight. In no other attitude 
surely, does it become sinners to ask the leat" 
favor, much less that God should fill our cup of 
blessedness, and cause it to overflow forever. 

2. There must be a proper appreciation of the 
infinite grace and kindness of God in the bestow- 
ment of such blessings upon such creatures. Were 
you now, Christian, to present your cup to your 
Father in heaven, and to ask Himtofill.it with un- 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 53 

mingled blessedness, could you appreciate the infi- 
nite grace and kindness manifested in meeting such 
a request ] Would your gratitude and love in any 
degree correspond with the blessings received % 

3. We must ask with the most implicit confi- 
dence in God's ability and willingness to confer y 
upon us the very fullness of joy which we ask, 
and in the fact that it is our privilege to receive 
it. A great many persons, when we tell them that 
it is the privilege of the believer to be kept " in 
perfect peace" in this life, will not admit it. They 
will not admit that provisions exist in the gospel 
for our fullness of joy, or that God is willing or 
intends to confer any such blessing upon the be- 
liever in this life. Such persons are not in an 
attitude to receive " the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love Him." And let me 
say here, that if we thus limit the grace of God, 
we " wrong our own souls." But if we will not 
"stagger at the promise of God, through unbelief,'' 
but will be " strong in the faith, giving glory unto 
God," and being " fully persuaded that what He 
hath promised he is able also to perform," then, 
Christian, there is "no good thing that He will with- 
hold from us." We may " ask what we will, and 
it shall be done unto us." 

4. We must ask in the name of Christ, with the 
most peaceful assurance and expectation, that that 
name will be. efficacious to secure the blessing v 
which we are seeking. Christ has set before us 
an open door to the throne of grace, and has re- 
quired us to " come boldly" and "ask and receive, 
till our joy is full." Under such circumstances, 
we must " ask in faith, nothing wavering," or not 

" expect to receive any thing of the Lord." Now, 

Christian, can you do this ] Can you spread out 

your entire necessities before God, with the as- 

e2 



54 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

surance that He, for Christ's sake, will meet them 
all? "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." 
" Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, 
He will give it you." Christian, " believest thou 
this V 9 u If thou canst believe, all things are pos- 

N » sible to him that believeth." 

5. While we thus ask God to meet all our ne- 
cessities, we must present our whole being as a 

i willing sacrifice to Him, to be employed in His ser- 
vice. On no other condition have we a right to 
ask or expect such fullness of the Lord. " Hav- 
ing, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let 
us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the 
Lord." " Let us present our bodies a living sac- 
rifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is 
our reasonable service." Christian, are you will- 
ing to do this ] Are you willing to " suffer the 
loss of all things for Christ," and let " God dwell 
in you and walk in you, and be your God, and you 
be His son, or His daughter," forever. If you can 
do this w T ith all your heart, then, in the name of 
the Lord, let me assure you that, " Because thou 
hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the 
Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil be- 
fall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy 
dwelling." " Surely He shall deliver thee from 
the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pes- 
tilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, 
and under His wings shalt thou trust : His truth 
shall be thy shield and buckler." 

REMARKS. 

1. We may now understand what are the appro- 
priate objects of prayer. Any thing, the possession 
of which the mind apprehends as a good, is an 
appropriate object of prayer. When the removal 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 55 

of any particular evil, or the possession of any- 
particular blessing, whatever it may be, whether 
temporal or spiritual, appears as a good to the 
mind, in respect to all such objects we are to 
"make known our requests to God." The same 
will hold true in respect to prayer, both for our- 
selves and others. 

2. We may also understand the nature of the 
sovereignty which God exercises in respect to 
prayer put up in faith for such objects. He does 
not, as many seem to suppose, exercise an arbi- 
trary sovereignty, in giving or withholding the ob- 
ject prayed for. He always answers the prayer f 
of faith, by meeting the want which prompted the f 
request, and meeting it by giving the blessing most 
perfectly adapted to meet it. If the particular 
object specified in prayer is better adapted than 
any other to meet this want, this particular object 
is granted. But if some other object will best ac- 
complish this end, then this will be given, instead 
of the one specified ; which is only to say, that it is 
the spirit of the prayer that is answered, and not 
the letter. Thus, when Paul prayed that the thom 
in his flesh might be taken away, God saw that the 
promise, " My grace shall be sufficient for thee," 
would be a greater blessing, and would more per- 
fectly meet the want which prompted the prayer, ^ 
than the removal of the evil specified, or the prom- 
ise, together with the removal of the evil, could 
be. Hence, the want was met by the bestowmerit 
not of the particular thing specified, but something 
— else, better adapted to meet that want. This is the 
sovereignty, and the only sovereignty, I suppose, 
which God exercises in respect to the prayer of 
faith. When we ask bread, He does not give us a 
stone. When we ask a fish, He does not give us 
a serpent ! Nor does he ever deny our requests. 



56 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

"Every one that asketh receiveth," and always 
receives that which is best adapted to meet the 
want which prompts his request. What a blessed 
sovereignty this is, to have infinite wisdom and 
love always answer prayer, by the bestowment of 
the blessing best adapted to meet the want which 
prompted the prayer. 

3. In the light of this subject, we may contem- 
plate the power of the gospel to bless the believer 
in every condition of life. The text was originally 
and primarily addressed to the twelve Apostles, 

I and disclosed to them the blessedness which they 
were authorized to expect, while prosecuting the 

I great work which Christ had devolved upon them. 
Let us look for a moment at the external circum- 
stances, through which they were to be called to 
pass : — Christ, in the first place, was to be removed 
from them, and by this means all their long cher- 
ished plans of worldly aggrandizement were to be 
wholly defeated. They were likewise to be wholly 
cut oft* from those prospects of worldly acquisitions, 
r of every kind, upon which mankind place so much 
value. They were also to become the objects of the 
universal contempt and execration of mankind, and 
were to stand before the world as the " offscouring 
of all things." They were finally to be subjected 
to the greatest sufferings and cruelties, and even 
to death itself. Those that " killed them would 
think that they did God service." Every thing, in 
short, in their external circumstances, did exist, and 
was to exist, to render them comfortlessly wretch- 

( ed. Yet in the midst of such circumstances, Christ 
promised them a perfect fullness of joy. " Ask, 
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." 
What power must there be in a religion which 
can not only render men perfectly blessed under 
such circumstances, but can make those very 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 57 

circumstances sources of blessedness to their 
minds. 

This power the gospel possessed eighteen hun- 
dred years ago ; and, reader, the power which it 
possessed then it possesses now. " Jesus Christ is 
the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever." His 
gospel is also the same. He is as able and willing, 
through that gospel, to bless you, as He was to bless . 
his ancient disciples. Nothing but unbelief sepa- 
rates you from all this blessedness. 

4. Let us contemplate the actual condition of 
the church, as contrasted with her high and blessed 
privileges. A pastor in one of our eastern cities, 
an opposer of the doctrine of Christian Perfection, 
once remarked, that the individual who had for 
years been regarded as one of the most consistent 
Christians in that city, was, in his opinion, one of 
the most unhappy men in it. A minister in another 
city, in reply to some remarks on the condition of 
the church, said, that there were two brethren in 
that city, who, he was sure, did know the gospel as 
a life-giving and peace-giving gospel. I replied 
that I had seen one of these men, who, a short time 
since, had informed me, that as a Christian, he was 
exceedingly unhappy and unblessed, and that he 
knew of no other Christian in a better state. 

The ministers and elders of a leading Presbytery 
had met, some years since, for prayer and religious 
conversation. The brother who presided com- 
menced the relation, of Christian experience, say- 
ing, that the uniform character of his experience, 
: was that of despondency ; and closed, by remarking, 
that nothing but fear prevented his leaving the min- 
istry. The other members, with the exception of 
the pastor and elders of a single church, who had 
embraced different views of the gospel from their 
brethren, followed in a similar strain. 



58 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

A question here arises — Is this a fair representa- 
tion of the state of the great mass of our churches r { 
What is the uniform confession of a vast majority 
of the church, throughout the length and breadth 
of the land ] "What do her favorite hymns indi- 
cate in respect to her spiritual state 1 Is it not 
true, that those hymns which were designed for 
backsliders are the standing hymns through which 
the church expresses her permanent condition] 
Take the following stanzas as examples : 

" Where is the blessedness I knew 
When first I saw the Lord ? 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus and his word ? 

What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd 
How sweet their memory still ! 

But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 

" Look, how we grovel here below, 
, Fond of these trifling toys ; 
y Our souls can neither fly nor go, 
To reach eternal joys." 

These and similar hymns were designed for back- 
sliders, and express the very feelings with which 
they ought to return to God. But does not the 
church sing them, as indicative of her permanent 
state ] Now what an appalling state of things do 
such facts indicate ! What fearful backsliding and 
apostasy ! What dreadful abandonment of the 
Spirit of God, and of the consolations of his pres- 
ence and love ! One would almost think, that 

— " God must be a wilderness to Israel." Yet the 
gospel was designed to be to all believers a " land 

f of broad rivers and streams." "In the Lord Je- 
hovah is everlasting strength," and He has prom- 
ised, that "they that wait upon the Lord shall re- 
new their strength ; they shall mount up with wings 
as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 59 

they shall walk, and not faint." Yet the church com- 
plains that she " can neither fly nor go, to reach 
eternal joys." God has declared, that "the path 
of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day." The church com- 
plains, that that path has been waxing more and 
more obscure ever since she entered it. O " tell it 
not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Asca- 
lon ; lest the daughters of the uncircumcised tri- 
umph." 

5. We may now see how it is that the church 
often proclaims her own disgrace, and disgraces her 
Lord and Savior, when she is not aware of the fact. 
Suppose that, as one enters a family circle, he hears 
the husband and wife complaining of a want of en- 
joyment in each other's society, speaking of the time 
soon after their union, as the most happy period 
which they had enjoyed together; and affirming 
that the remembrance of that period had left an 
aching void in their hearts which nothing to be met 
with in their present associations could fill. Would 
not each of these individuals, by such disclosures, 
proclaim the other's shame in the most flagrant 
manner conceivable 1 Yet the church can give ut- 
terance, before God and the world, to precisely simi- 
lar sentiments respecting her union with her Sav- 
ior and her God ; and do it without blushing, and 
without the least apparent apprehension, that in so 
doing she is proclaiming her own disgrace, and dis- 
honoring her Maker and her Redeemer. It would 
seem that we have been so long accustomed to dis- 
honor our Savior, that it has almost, in our estima- 
tion, ceased to be a crime. Did you ever reflect, 
Christian, that the highest dishonor you can cast 
upon your Savior, is to proclaim it to the world, 
that the period of your first love is the most blessed 
portion of your Christian experience, and that when 



60 THE TRUE BELIEVEH. 

you first saw the Lord you were most blessed in 
Him % Well may the Lord say, " Be ashamed and 
confounded, every one of you/' that you have thus 
dishonored your Redeemer, the Holy One of Is- 
rael. 

6. We may now understand one of the grand se- 
crets of the success of the gospel, as preached by 
the Apostles and primitive Christians. Take a sin- 
gle passage in illustration : " Blessed be God, even 
the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comfort- 
eth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able 
to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the 
comfort whereby we are comforted of God. For 
as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our con- 
solation also aboundeth by Christ." 

They proclaimed the gospel as a full and perfect 
■ * remedy for every evil, as able to meet entirely ev- 
ery necessity incident to our condition as creatures 
and as sinners. They did this also with the most 
implicit confidence in the power of the gospel to 
produce such results, because they had, in every 
s variety of condition, tested its power, and experi- 
^w enced such results from it, in their own souls. Now 
f is it at all wonderful, that a gospel, every promise 
| and declaration of which, was thus verified in the 
1 visible experience of those who proclaimed it, 
should be " mighty through God, to the pulling 
down of strongholds !" Is it wonderful, that men 
proclaiming such a gospel, with such an experi- 
ence of its efficacy, should " turn the world upside 
down]" 

Permit me here to express the solemn conviction, 
that no one is qualified to preach this gospel, or to 
urge its reception upon sinners, who has not a simi- 
lar experience of its power; and that the manifest 
and palpable want of this experience on the part 



FULLNESS OF JOY. 61 

of those who now proclaim it, is the sole reason 
why it is not as mighty in their hands as it was in 
the hands of its primitive advocates. 

7. We may now notice the question, whether a 
state of entire sanctification is in this life attainable, 
in such a sense as to be an object of rational ex- 
pectation. To determine this, we need only to an- 
swer two questions : 

(1.) Are we authorized to pray, and pray in the 
name of Christ, that " the very God of peace may 
sanctify us wholly ?" 

(2.) Is the bestowment of this blessing, or the 
attainment of this state essential to the fullness of 
the believer's joy ] 

There is not a real Christian on earth, who will 
not answer each of these questions in the affirma- 
tive. Then, if there is a blessing in the universe 
which we are authorized, in view of the command, 
" Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full," 
to pray for, with the expectation of receiving, it 
must be this : for none other is so indispensable to 
the " fullness of our joy." If the opposers of this 
doctrine can prove, either that we are not author- 
ized to pray in the name of Christ, for complete ~ 
sanctification in this life, or that this blessing is not 
essential to the " fullness of our joy," then the doc- 
trine falls to the ground. If they can not do this, 
the doctrine is " founded upon a rock," and the 
" gates of hell can never prevail against it." 

8. Another important test which we may apply 
to this and the opposite doctrine, to determine which 
must be in accordance with the word of God, here 
presents itself to our contemplation. One of these 
doctrines, as all admit, must be true. It will also be 
admitted, that that doctrine must be true, the be-f 
lief of which is best adapted to render the joy of 
the believer full. Let us test these two doctrines 

F 



62 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

in the light of these self-evident principles. Ac- 
cording to both, we are authorized to pray, in the 
name of Christ, for entire sanctification in this life. 
According to both, the attainment of this state is 
indispensable to the fullness of our joy. If the doc- 
trine of Christian Perfection is true, we are au- 
thorized and required to pray in the name of Christ, 
for perfection in holiness, expecting to receive the 
blessing for which we pray. If the opposite doc- 
trine is true, we are to pray in the name of Christ 
for the same identical blessing, with the absolute 
certainty of not receiving it. Which belief, let 
me ask, is most favorable to fullness of joy ? If the 
latter is true, is not the declaration " Ask, and ye 
shall receive, that your joy may be full," the per- 
fection of absurdity ? 

9. I close this discourse with a solemn question 
to every believer in Christ. You know, my brother, 
that Christ has set before you a wide and open door 
to the throne of grace. He has required you to 
come and ask in his name, till your joy is full. Will 
you comply with this command of your blessed Lord] 
Remember, nothing grieves Him more, or dishon- 
ors Him before the world to a greater degree, than 
to have one of his redeemed ones unblessed. Will 
you stand at the throne of grace, till He " restores 
unto you the joys of his salvation, and upholds you 
by his free spirit;" and then go forth to " teach 
transgressors his ways, that sinners may be con- 
verted" unto Him ? " If ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them." 



SERMON IV. 

LIFE ETERNAL. 

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. — John, xvii., 3. 

The term life, in its most general sense, desig- 
nates " that state of animals and plants, or of organ- 
ized being, in which its natural functions are 
performed, or in which its organs are capable of 
performing their functions." In the Bible, when 
applied to the mind, it designates existence in a 
state of perfect blessedness. " I am come that 
they might have life, and that they might have it 
more abundantly." By the phrase " life eternal," 
as used in the text, we are to understand a state 
of blessedness as great as the capacities of the sub- 
ject permit, and endless in its duration. The 
knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ referred to 
in the tex&, implies : 

1. An apprehension of the real character of the 
H only living and true God, and of Jesus Christ, 
whom He hath sent;" especially as that character 
is revealed in the great plan of redemption. 

2. A knowledge of this character in the rela- 
tions which God sustains to us as sinners redeemed, 
sanctified, and saved by his grace. A single fact 
will illustrate the thought here presented. Two 
men, the one aged and the other in the meridian 
of life — the former in a state of poverty and afflic- 
tion, the latter possessed of affluence — met on the 
plains of Italy. As they entered into conversation, 
each became greatly interested in the other's char- 



64 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

acter and history. Soon, however, a fact was stated 
by one of the parties, which simultaneously revealed 
to each the endearing relation which he sustained 
to the other, and with the exclamations, "My father!" 
"My son!" they were instantly locked in each 
other's arms. How immeasurably heightened was 
the interest which each felt in the other's charac- 
ter, when that character was contemplated in the 
light of the endearing relation of father and son. 
So with the believer. Were he brought into such 
circumstances that the infinite perfections and glory 
of God should be distinctly apprehended by him, 
irrespective of any relations existing between him 
and God, the divine character would, even then, 
be an object of inconceivable interest to his mind. 
But how immeasurably heightened is this interest, 
when, in the presence of such apprehensions, the 
believer can say, This is my Father and my God. 
He is my " shield and my exceeding great reward." 
On this point I shall have occasion to speak again 
in the progress of the present discourse. 

3. This knowledge implies the harmony of the 
soul with the entire character of God, as thus ap- 
prehended. Fallen spirits have intellectual appre- 
hensions of the character of God full and distinct. 
But on account of the opposition of their hearts to 
Him, He is to them " a consuming fire." To know 
God, as an object of supreme love and delight, is 
the knowledge referred to in the text. 

With these observations I would remark, that 
the following truths are clearly revealed in the text 
and context : 

1. The possession of this knowledge, in connec- 
tion with the state of mind above referred to, is 
life eternal. In other words, it induces a state of 
blessedness as great as the capacities of the subject 
permit, and endless in its duration. 



LIFE ETERNAL. 65 

2. Christ bestows eternal life upon those that 
love Him, by communicating to them a knowledge 
of the character of the "only living and true God," 
and of Himself, as sent of God, as the Savior of the 
world. When we ask Christ to confer eternal life 
upon us, it is the same thing as to ask Him to im- 
part to us this knowledge. This is the " fountain 
of the water of life, of which He freely gives to all 
that are athirst." 

3. Christ has received unlimited power and 
authority from the Father to confer this knowl- 
edge, and consequent perfect and eternal blessed- 
ness, upon all who have been given Him by the 
Father; that is, upon all true believers. For all 
such, and such only, have been given to Christ for 
this purpose. u As thou hast given Him power 
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life 
to as many as thou hast given Him. And this 
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
sent." 

4. Christ is now able and willing to impart this 
knowledge, and consequent blessedness, to all who 
will believe in Him. " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
t; I will give to him that is athirst, of the fountain 
of the water of life freely." 

5. This knowledge, the possession of which is 
life eternal, no being in existence can impart to us 
but Jesus Christ. That knowledge which Christ 
is empowered to bestow, no other being can be- 
stow, nor can we derive it from any other source. 
" No man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; 
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, 
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." 

The attention of the reader is now invited to a 
consideration of the following propositions : 
f2 



66 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

I. To ALL WHO LOVE GoD, A KNOWLEDGE OP 
THE " ONLY LIVING AND TRUE GoD, AND OF JeSUS 

Christ, whom He hath sent, is eternal life." 

II. The conditions on which Christ will 

IMPART THIS KNOWLEDGE AND CONSEQUENT BLESS- 
EDNESS TO US. 

I. To all iclw love God, the possession of this 
knotvledge will be eternal life. In other words, it 
will induce a state of blessedness as great as the 
capacities of the subject will permit, and endless in 
duration. 

1. It transforms the whole moral character into 
a perfect resemUance to that of Christ. The infinite 
and perfect blessedness of God results from the 
i conscious possession of infinite and perfect holiness. 
Just so far as the believer enters into a conscious 
possession of a character like that of God, as re- 
vealed in the plan of redemption, so far, to the 
extent of .his capacities, he possesses the pure 
and perfect blessedness which God himself enjoys. 
Now the possession of the knowledge here referred 
to, results in the full ande conscious possession of 
such a character. " We all with open face, behold- 
ing as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
into the same image, from glory to glory, even as 
by the Spirit of the Lord." Let Christ lift the 
veil, Christian and show you His glory, as He is 
able and willing to do by his Spirit, and you would 
be like Him. Your whole moral character would 
be transformed into his likeness. The natural re- 
sult would be that his " joy would be fulfilled in 
you." The blessedness which He enjoys would 
be yours, to the full extent of your capacities. And 
this would be " life eternal." This would be the 
life eternal which God enjoys, and which the pure 
spirits, around his throne possess. 



LIFE ETERNAL. 67 

2. Such knowledge of God, such apprehensions 
of the infinite glory and love of Christ, induce the » 
continued exercise of that perfect love which is \ 
the consummation of blessedness. The highest 
happiness of which we are susceptible arises from 
the strong and continued exercise of the benevo- 
lent affections. Any object that can call forth 
these affections, and induce their strong and con- 
tinued exercise, will render us in the highest de- 
gree blessed. Now there is but one object in ex- 
istence that is capable of doing this. It is " a rev- 
elation of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." Let the Spirit of God 

" take of the things of Christ and show them to the 
believer ;" let Him impart to him full and distinct 
apprehensions of his glory — let the Most High 
" cause all his goodness to pass before him" — and 
the result is, that the " fountains of the great deep" 
of feeling and affection in the soul " are broken up." 
The tide of love rolls on with a power perpetually 
increasing. The heart's purest, strongest, and best 
affections forever roll around one blissful center. 
This * l perfect love casteth out fear," and in the 
continued flow of the benevolent affections, the 
blessedness of the soul can be measured only by 
the extent of its capacities. Christian, a this is life 
eternal." 

3. Those deep and tender emotions which a fixed 
contemplation of the glory of God as it " shines in 
the face of Jesus Christ" excites, render the bless- 
edness of the soul as great as its capacities permit. 
The emotions excited by a continued contempla- 
tion of objects beautiful, .grand, or sublime, are of 
the most happifying nature which the mind expe- / 
riences. Men will cross the ocean, they will circle 
the earth, to enjoy those deep and expanding emo- 
tions, which a perception and contemplation of the 



68 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

sublime scenery of nature awakens. Men have 
often expended fortunes to secure the enjoyment 
of the emotions awakened by a contemplation of 
the sublime objects of the different continents. 
But the emotions of delight awakened by the con- 
templation of finite objects, however beautiful, 
grand, or sublime in themselves, when compared 
to those awakened by the contemplation of the in- 
finite, such as the infinite and boundless love and 
glory of God, are almost as finite to infinite. Take 
one or two examples in illustration : 

Mr. Tennent had occasion to take a journey 
which would occupy a whole day. Before he 
started, he entered his closet and besought the 
Lord to " manifest Himself to him" on the way. 
As he mounted his horse the veil was lifted, and 
he " beheld with open face the glory of the Lord." 
He had those full and distinct apprehensions of 
the love and glory of God, which filled the whole 
sphere of moral and intellectual vision. In these 
divine contemplations, his mind was occupied dur- 
ing the entire day in a state of such fixedness, that 
he was wholly insensible to all things else around 
him. At length his horse stopped at the place of 
his destination, without the exertion of any con- 
scious direction on the part of the rider. So wrap- 
ped was he in the visions of the divine glory, that 
it required much effort on the part of the people 
in the house to recall him to a consciousness of the 
scenes around him. 

Now, I suppose, that during that day, the emo- 
tions awakened by such contemplations rendered 
the mind of that man of God as blessed as his ca- 
pacities permitted. Nor could his powers long 
have endured such a crushing weight of glory. 
Take another example : 

A man of God, of a similar spirit to Tennent, on 



LIFE ETERNAL. 69 

retiring one morning to his place of private devo- 
tion, gave directions to a domestic to call him down 
at the expiration of three hours, as he was then to 
receive a visit from some friends. At the specified 
time, the domestic found him in such fixed con- 
templations of the divine glory, that he returned 
without disturbing him. At the end of three hours 
more he returned and found his master in the same 
state as before. So perfectly absorbed was his 
whole mind in those visions of " the breadth, and 
depth, and length, and height, of the love of Christ 
which passeth knowledge," as to render him wholly 
unconscious of the presence of any other object. 
Again, he retired, and after three hours, returned 
once more, and found the man of God in the same 
fixed contemplations as formerly. God was " caus- 
ing all his goodness to pass before him." On be- 
ing then aroused, his first inquiry was, whether it 
were possible that the time had come for the arri- 
val of his friends ] He had been so fixed with 
those spiritual apprehensions, as to be entirely un- 
conscious of the lapse of time. 

Many persons, such as Mrs. Edwards, and Dr. 
Payson near the close of life, have had similar 
manifestations of the divine love and glory. Now, 
while the soul is borne upward and onward with 
theitide of emotion awakened by such contempla- 
tions, nothing but an increase of capacity can ren- 
der its happiness greater. And as a revelation to 
the mind of the " light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," is adapt- 
ed to hold all the powers of our being in a state of 
perpetual fixedness, in which the tide of blissful 
emotion shall rise and swell forever, with con- 
stantly accumulating power, how true the declara- 
tion of our Savior is — " This is life eternal, that 
they might know thee, the only true God, and 



70 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It is not to 
be expected that Christians shall, at all times, and 
under all circumstances, have these overwhelming 
visions of the divine glory. Our present capacities 
do not permit it. But, Christian, we would im- 
press this truth deeply upon your mind, that it is 
your privilege, as well as your duty, to have those 
perpetual apprehensions of the divine glory which 
shall render your blessedness, at all times and un- 
der all circumstances, full. Let Christ once lift 
the veil and show you his glory, and the deep emo- 
tions of love and delight which would swell your 
bosom, would render the " life eternal" referred 
to in the text, a blessed reality in your experience. 
Christ is able and willing, yea, infinitely desirous, 
to do this for you. If you will " seek Him with 
all your heart," He will thus be found of you. He 
will " bring you out of darkness into God's marvel- 
ous light.'' " God himself shall walk in you and 
dwell in you," and with *' open face, you shall be- 
hold, as in a glass, his glory." And thus, " the sun 
shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for 
brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but 
the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, 
and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more 
go down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: 
for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and 
the days of thy mourning shall be ended." 

4. The fact that the knowledge under considera- 
tion must be eternal life, may be shown also by a 
reference to the relations which the individual thus 
knowing God, recognizes as existing between him 
and God. Let us suppose, that while an individ- 
ual has a full and distinct apprehension of the infi- 
nite perfections and glory of God, such as the Spirit 
only can impart, he becomes perfectly conscious 
that every attribute of Divinity stands pledged to 



LIFE ETERNAL. 71 

secure and advance his eternal blessedness, that 
throughout eternity, God is to employ the resour- 
ces of his own infinity, to render him in the highest 
degree holy and happy ; let him also become as 
fully sensible of the fact, that in consequence of the 
relations existing between him and God, he is 
brought into such relations to the arrangements of 
universal providence, that not an event will ever 
transpire throughout the universe, which will not 
" work together for his good," in short, that " all 
things are his, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Ce- 
phas, or the world, or life, or death, or things pres- 
ent, or things to come : all are his ; and he is 
Christ's ; and Christ is God's." To know God 
with the consciousness of sustaining such relations 
to Him as these, this surely must be life eternal. 

As a further illustration of this thought, let us 
now contemplate a few cases recorded in the Bi- 
ble. What must have been the feelings of Abra- 
ham in view of the following declarations of God 
to him : " Fear not, Abram ; I am thy shield, and 
thy exceeding great reward !" How could he 
have endured a greater weight of blessedness than 
he enjoyed in the contemplation of such relations 
to God ] 

Take also the following incident in the life of 
Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, See, 
thou sayest unto me, bring up this people ; and 
thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send 
with me : yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, 
and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, 
therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy 
sight, show me now thy way, that I may know 
thee, that I may find grace in thy sight ; and con- 
sider that this nation is thy people. And he said, 
My presence shall go with thee, and I will give 
thee rest. And he said unto Him, If thy presence 



72 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

go not with me, carry us not up hence. For where- 
in shall it be known here that I and thy people 
have found grace in thy sight ] Is it not in that 
thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I 
and thy people, from all the people that are upon 
the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Mo- 
ses, I will do this thing also that thou ha&l spoken : 
for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know 
thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, show 
me thy glory. And He said, I will make all my 
goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the 
name of the Lord before thee.' , Now, I suppose, 
that the blessedness of Moses here was full. This 
to him was " life eternal. ,, And, Christian, we 
wish to impress your mind with the conviction, 
that you may know God so as to be as perfectly 
blessed in Him, as Moses and Abraham were. 

What also must have been the feelings of the 
prophet when the plan of redemption opened in 
prophetic vision upon his mind. " Unto us a child 
is born, unto us a son is given ; and the govern- 
ment shall be upon his shoulder : and his name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty 
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 
How could his blessedness have been greater, than 
when his mind was swallowed up with the unfold- 
ing of such mysteries as these. 

Contemplate now the feelings of the aged Sime- 
on, when, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, 
he entered the temple, assured that the promised 
Messiah, the babe of Bethlehem, the " Wonderful, 
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, 
and the Prince of Peace," was there. As he took 
the babe in his arms, with a full apprehension of the 
fact, that that babe was the incarnate God, " a light, 
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people 
Israel," is it at all wonderful that he exclaimed, 



LIFE ETERNAL. 7$ 

" Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in 1 
peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared be- 
fore the face of all people V 9 I suppose that he 
then enjoyed as much of heaven as was possible, 
without bursting this tenement of clay. In his 
mind, the truth of the assertion, " this is life eter- 
nal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom thou hast sent," was a living, felt re- 
ality. It will be so. in your experience, Christian, 
when the Spirit of God shall take of the things of 
Christ, and thus show them unto you. 

Similar feelings pervaded the mind of John the 
Baptist, when he " saw Jesus coming unto him," 
and exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world." "Again, the 
next day after, John stood, and two of his disci- 
ples ; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he 
saith, Behold the Lamb of God !" John seemed 
to have received a full and distinct apprehension 
of the mysteries of redemption. The relations 
which he sustained to Christ were revealed with 
perfect distinctness to his mind, and in their light 
his joy M was unspeakable and full of glory." O, 
to lay the hand upon the head of such a victim, 
and there confess our sins with the certain knowl- 
edge, that " the chastisement of our peace is upon 
him, ,, and that " by his stripes we are healed.' 
This is the death of sin; this is "life eternal." 

Think also of the feelings of the Apostle, when 
he penned the following lines : " And the Word 
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we be- 
held His glory, the glory as of the only begotten 
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of 
his fullness have all we received, and grace for 
grace." 

The Christian, when overwhelmed with a sense 
G 



74 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

of his infinite guilt and ill-desert, with appalling 
thoughts, lifts the eye to the God before whom we 
must all appear. At this moment, the inspired 
declaration presents itself to his mind, " We have 
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous." To know Christ as sustaining to us 
such a relation as this, wftat is it but " life eter- 
nal ?" 

Contemplate now the following exclamation of 
an inspired Apostle: "Behold, what manner of 
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
should be called the sons of God." A missionary 
had employed a Pundit to aid him in the transla- 
tion of the Scriptures. The missionary read a 
passage, and then the Pundit translated it into his 
native tongue. When the passage above cited was 
read, the Pundit stopped, and after thinking a mo- 
ment, said, " You have not read that passage right." 
The missionary read again, " Behold, what manner 
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
should be called the sons of God." " Why," said 
the astonished heathen, " you have not read that 
passage right." As the passage was read a third 
time, the Pundit dropped his pen and wept. He 
could not translate such words. The thought had 
never entered his mind before, that such a being as 
man could sustain such a relation to the infinite God. 
What, then, must be the blessedness of that mind, 
that apprehends distinctly the perfection and glory 
of God with a full consciousness of the fact, that he 
sustains such a relation to such an infinite being] 
This, surely, is " life eternal." And because we 
sustain such a relation to God as this, " Christ 
himself is not ashamed to call us brethren, say- 
ing, I will declare thy name among my brethren." 
Again, " Go tell my brethren, that they go into 
Galilee, and there shall they see me." " Go to my 



LIFE ETERNAL. 75 

brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my 
Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your 
God." To "know the only living and true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent," in such re- 
lations as these, " this is life eternal." 

II. The conditions on which Christ will communi- 
cate this knowledge, and consequent blessedness to us. 

1. We must set our heart Rnprprnftly upon its 
attainment. "My son, if thou wilt receive my 
words, and hide my commandments with thee, so 
that thou incline thy ear unto wisdom, and apply 
thine heart to understanding ; yea, if thou criest 
after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for un- 
derstanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and 
searchest for her as for hid treasures : then shall 
thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the 
knowledge of God. Then shalt thou understand 
righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, ev- 
ery good path." " Then shall ye seek me and 
find me, when ye shall search for me with all your 
heart." The great mass of professing Christians 
walk on in darkness without finding God, simply 
because they never set their hearts upon finding 
Him. A friend of mine, speaking of a certain 
sister in Christ, said, That sister knows what it is 
to have fellowship with God, and I doubt not you 
will find her prepared to sympathize with you in 
reference to your views of the infinite and bound- 
less love of Christ. Years ago she received such 
apprehensions of the great mysteries of redemption, 
as few obtain in this life. She became fully sensi- 
ble, he said, that it was her privilege to know God 
as she never had known Him, and to enjoy Him as 
she never had enjoyed Him. She then fixed her 
whole heart upon attaining this state. She be- 
sought the Lord night and day, " with strong cry- 



76 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ing and tears," to manifest Himself unto her, by 
" showing her his glory." As she came from her 
closet one Sabbath morning to accompany her 
family to church, an accident occurred, which she 
saw would occasion a delay of two or three min- 
utes. She felt that that interval was too precious 
to be lost. She hastened to her closet and spent 
the time in the most fervent prayer, that God 
would manifest Himself to her soul. As she en- 
tered the house of God, He did manifest Himself 
to her, to such an extent, that her mind was almost 
overpowered with the weight of glory and blessed- 
ness that pressed upon her. Since that, while I 
knew her, she seemed to be continually sitting at 
the feet of Christ, with a full realization, in her 
own experience, of the truth of the declaration, 
% ' This is life eternal, that they might kngw thee, the 
only true Clod, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
sent." Those who thus seek God find Him, and 
none others do find Him. 

Think of the African, who, as Mr. Buck, in his 
Religious Anecdotes, informs us, crossed the ocean 
to hear about the " Christian's God that paid the 
debt." In his own country, he became sensible 
of his condition as a sinner. At the same time the 
thick and impenetrable gloom of despair settled 
down upon his mind, because he was in total dark- 
ness in respect to the way of pardon and eternal 
life. In this state he was accustomed to sit under 
the shade of a particular tree, and weep aloud in 
view of his lost and hopeless condition. A wicked 
sailor, who heard his cries one day, told him to 
" go to England, and there hear about the Chris- 
tian's God that paid the debt." Without a mo- 
ment's delay he sought the nearest port, and took 
the first ship he could find that was bound for 
London. On the voyage he continually besought 



LIFE ETERNAL. 77 

the sailors, and all on board, to tell a poor negro 
about " the Christian's God that paid the debt." 
But none could unfold the mystery. On his arrival 
at London he passed up and down the streets, be- 
seeching the multitude that passed to " tell a poor 
negro about the Christian's God that paid the debt." 
Some gave him money, others heaped abuse upon 
him ; but none pointed him to the M Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world." At length 
he gave it up in despair ; and, as the shades of 
evening came on, he sat down on one of the pub- 
lic greens, and began to utter the same mournful 
cries that he had been wont to utter amid the deep 
moral midnight of his native land. His cries at- 
tracted the notice of an evangelical clergyman, 
who was on his way to a public lecture. " Do," 
he cried, as the man of God inquired the cause of 
his grief, " do tell a poor negro about the Chris- 
tian's God that paid the debt." " Go with me," 
said the minister, " and I will tell you." He took 
the inquirer into the church, and gave a history of 
the plan of redemption, representing sin as the 
debt, and Christ, by his incarnation and atonement, 
as paying the debt. " I have found it," cried the 
African, as the mystery was unfolded to him. As 
the minister came down from the pulpit, after the 
congregation had retired, he found the stranger 
entirely unconscious of visible objects, so perfectly 
absorbed was his whole soul in the mystery of mys- 
teries which had dawned upon his mental vision. 
He had sought the Lord, "with all his heart," and 
He was " found of him," and now his cup was 
full. 

Now, reader, if you do not know God in such a 
sense, that your blessedness in Him is also full, 
you are as really in darkness, and as utterly de- 
pendent upon divine teaching for the light of life, 
g2 



78 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

as that African was. If you will seek God as he 
sought Him, " He will be found of you," too. If 
you do not thus seek Him, you will never see the 
^o nt > y ou w iH wander on in darkness, without 
11 knowing at what you stumble." If you continue 
to walk in darkness, without " seeking God with 
all your heart," when you know that you may en- 
joy His marvelous light, what else can you expect, 
but that the darkness around you shall thicken into 
the gloom of eternal midnight ] Reader, will you 
11 seek the Lord with all your heart," until " He is 
found of you f 9 

2. If you would attain this knowledge, Chris- 
tian, set your heart supremely upon the object for 
which Christ imparts it to you. If Christ should 
give you to "behold, as with open face, the glo- 
ry of the Lord," it would be that you might be 
" changed into the same image, from glory to glo- 
ry, even as by the Spirit of the Lord ;" in other 
words, that you might be free from sin, and ren- 
dered pure and holy, like God. Would you, above 
all things, prize this state, together with the bless- 
edness that results from its possession 1 If so, you 
may seek the Lord with the assurance that you 
will find Him, and that in finding Him you will 
find eternal life. 

3. You must seek this knowledge with the most 
perfect assurance that its possession will in fact 
be "life eternal." Do you believe that if Christ 
should admit you, as it were, into the holy of ho- 
lies of his sacred presence, and permit you to be- 
hold, with unveiled face, the glory of the Lord, 
your blessedness would be full 1 Can you seek 
such a knowledge as such a good] If so, be as- 
sured that in seeking you will find Him, and that 
in finding Him, your joy will be " unspeakable and 
full of glory." 



LIFE ETERNAL. 79 

4. Seek this knowledge with the profoundest 
humility and teachableness. A philosopher of Ger- 
many became sensible of his condition as a sinner, 
and set himself to study the Bible for the purpose 
of understanding the way of life therein revealed. 
But impenetrable darkness hung over the sacred 
page. At length he requested a poor peasant, 
whom he knew as a very ignorant but highly spir- 
itual man, to sit down with him and teach him the 
way of life as revealed in the Bible. Thus humble 
and teachable must you become, if you would find 
God. Is this, reader, the spirit which you breathe ? 
Are you ready to be taught and led by any one, 
even a child, or a beggar, if he can only lead you 
to Christ ] 

5. Seek the counsel and secure an interest in the 
prayers^ of those who have the most full and rich 
experience of that knowledge of the u only living 
and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath 
sent," the possession of which is " life eternal." 
Lay open to them your whole heart, and having 
received their counsel, engage them to " bow the 
knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of 
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named, that He would grant you according to the 
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might 
by His spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may 
dwell in your heart by* faith ; that you, being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, 
with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and 
depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled 
with all the fullness of God." Brother, take this 
course, while you, also, yourself, seek the Lord 
with all your heart, and He will do for you " ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that you ask or 
think/ 



80 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

6. Seek this knowledge, in devout dependence 
upon the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Seek and 
e xpec t his teachings with a humble confession of 
your "cl ark ness and ignorance, in the most prayer- 
ful study of the Bible, and attendance upon all the 
means of grace. If you will do this, rest assured 
that you will find God. He will " bring you out 
of darkness into his own marvelous light," and you 
will have a blissful experience of the truth of the 
words of Christ, " This is life eternal, to know thee 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath 
sent." And now, Christian, do you want eternal 
life enough to seek it with all your heart ? Will 
you now enter into a solemn covenant with your 
own soul, that you will never rest, until you have 
a full and rich experience of that knowledge of 
God which is life eternal ? 

REMARKS. 

1. We may now understand the meaning of such 
interesting and important passages of the Bible as 
the following : — " Enoch walked with God." " I 
will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will 
be their God, and they shall be my people." " I 
will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." 
" He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto 
him." " We will come unto him, and make our 
abode with him." 

As these are among the most interesting and 
important declarations and promises of the Bible, 
it is of great importance that we correctly appre- 
hend their meaning. Perhaps I can best convey 
my understanding of the meaning of these pas- 
sages, by a reference to two or three examples. 

During the great revivals in the days of Presi- 
dent Edwards, a little child was observed by its 



LIFE ETERNAL. 81 

parents to oe exceedingly sorrowful and sad, often 
in tears, and a great portion of the time alone in 
its closet. At length the mother asked the child 
the cause of its sadness. u Why, mother," said the 
child, " God won't come to me. I call to Him, but 
He won't come to me." Some time after this, the 
child came out of her closet, and with inexpress- 
ible joy beaming in her countenance, exclaimed, 
"Mother, He has come; God has come I" Now, 
reader, if you can conceive distinctly of the state 
which that child described, in the phrase "God has 
come," and then suppose it permanent in the ex- 
perience of the believer, you can understand the 
meaning of these passages. % 

Before, when she called, God did not seem to 
hear. It seemed as if He was distant, and it was 
impossible to get to Him. Now, He seemed to be 
directly present to the soul, and she had a perfect 
consciousness that He heard and answered her 
requests, and that she was the object of His infinite 
love and favor. When the soul enters into such a 
relation to God as this, God has come to that per- 
son. He has " made his abode with him." " He 
dwells in him, and walks in him." Christian, has 
God thus come to you ] 

Look now at the following extract from a letter / 
of Dr. Payson, when he was a blissful inhabitant 
of the land of Beulah : — "" 



"" " The Sun ofrighteousness has been gradually 
drawing nearer and nearer, appearing larger and 
brighter as He approached, and now He fills the 
whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory, 
in which I seem to float like an insect in the beams 
of the sun ; exulting, yet almost trembling, while I 
gaze on this excessive brightness, and wondering, 
with unutterable wonder, why God should thus 
deign to shine upon a sinful worm. A single heart 



82 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

and a single tongue seem altogether inadequate to 
my wants : I want a whole heart for every sepa- 
rate emotion, and a whole tongue to express that 
emotion. But why do I speak thus of myself and 
of my feelings ? Why not speak only of our God 
and Redeemer] It is because I know not what to 
say. When I would speak of them, my words are 
all swallowed up. I can only tell you what effects 
their presence produces, and even of that I can 
tell you but very little." 

Let this state become permanent with the Chris- 
tian, not only on the bed of death, but at all times, 
in sickness and in health, in life and in death, and 
then, like Enoch, "he walks with God." He has 
a full and blessed experience of the meaning of 
the above passages. He knows the " only living 
and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath 
sent," in the sense of the text. 

Look now at the scene which transpired in the 
experience of James Brain erd Taylor, when he 
received the blessing of entire sanctification : — 

11 At this very juncture, I was most delightfully 
conscious of giving up all to God. I was enabled 
to say, Here, Lord, take me, take my whole soul, 
and seal me Thine — Thine now, and Thine for- 
ever. l If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean/ 

♦ ##*#*#* There then ensued such emotions 
as I never before experienced — all was calm and 
tranquil, solemn ; and a heaven of love pervaded 
my whole soul. I had a witness of God's love to 
me, and of mine to Him. Shortly after I was dis- 
solved in tears of love and gratitude to our blessed 
Lord. The name of Jesus was precious to me. 

* 'Twas music in my ear.' He came as a King, 
and took full possession of my heart ; and I was 
enabled to say, 'I am crucified with Christ; never- 
theless, I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me/ 



LIFE ETERNAL. 83 

Let Him, as King of kings and Lord of lords, reign 
in me — reign without a rival, forever. ****** 
The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof 
I am glad, and for which I would praise His holy 
name. Not unto me — not unto me ; I am nothing 
— Jesus is all. To His name be the glory ! He 
is the author and finisher of faith. I know and 
am as fully assured of my acceptance with God, as 
I can be of my own existence — that is, if love, joy, 
and peace, are evidence of reconciliation. I have 
a hope full of glorious immortality. The perfect 
love of God casteth -out all fear of death, of the 
grave, of judgment, of hell. Filial fear — fear of 
offending my heavenly Father and my brethren, 
possesses me. Surely, I am a miracle of grace; a 
sinner saved by grace — free, sovereign grace. I 
feel that I love the Lord, because He first loved 
me. And even now I am favored with the gra- 
cious presence of Immanucl. How suitable and 
delightful is His name — 'God with us.' Yes, and 
formed within us the hope of glory.' ' 

Christian, has Christ thus "manifested Himself " 
to you ? Have He and the Father made their 
abode with you ] Does He commune with your 
spirit ] " Before you call, does He answer you ¥' 
And while you are speaking, does He say to your 
soul, " Here am I | M 

2. We may also understand the real condition 
of the great mass of professing Christians. They 
are in the same state that that child was, when 
" God would not come to it," with this fearful dif- 
ference, that they are not M sorrowing after the 
Lord," as she was. Like Job, they " know not 
where they might find Him, and come even to his 
seat." " Behold, they go forward, but He is not 
there ; and backward, but they can not perceive 
Him ; on the left hand, where He doth work, but 



84 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

they can net behold Him: He hideth Himself on 
the right hand that they can not see Him." Chris- 
tian, for the universe I would not be in such a re- 
lation to God as this. Do not rest a moment, till 
you have found God. Call to Him, till He answers 
you, " till He comes to you, and makes His abode 
with you." 

3. In the light of this subject, we may gain a 
clear conception of one of the highest evidences of 
the divine origin of the Scriptures. It is the per- 
fect adaptation of all the truths and principles of 
the gospel to the capacities of all who embrace it, 
whether learned or ignorant, and however great or 
small their capacities. Let the tall seraph, who 
for ages has " adored and burned" before the eter- 
nal throne, turn his contemplation upon the mys- 
teries of redemption, and all his powers are put on 
the stretch to comprehend "what is the breadth, 
and length, and depth, and height, and to know 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." Let 
a Newton, also, as his mind has just descended 
from a boundless range among the suns and worlds 
which are scattered abroad through the immensity 
of space, or as it ascends from the deep profound 
of nature, where it has been holding devout con- 
verse with her hidden laws, "turn aside to see this 
great sight," and the unfolding glories of redemp- 
tion perfectly fill the whole compass of his moral 
and intellectual vision. To his great mind, also, 
the "love of Christ passeth knowledge." Now let 
the child, the peasant, or the almost idiot, appre- 
hend the same gospel, and how perfectly it adapts 
itself to his capacities. All who apprehend and 
embrace it, it " beautifies with salvation," and ren- 
ders their blessedness full. All, of every capacity, 
are " complete in Christ." Here every demand of 
their being is met perfectly and forever. 



LIFE ETERNAL. 85 

I think I shall never lose the impression which 
I received when a child, on reading the story of 
" Poor Joseph, " who was so destitute of intelli- 
gence as to be hardly capable of a single distinct 
idea on any subject. He was providentially led 
into the house of God one Sabbath, where a dis- 
course was preached from the text, " It is a faithful 
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of 
whom I am chief." From that moment that great 
truth, adapting itself to the capacities of the sub- 
ject, took possession of his mind, and ever after 
held all his powers in the same blissful fixedness 
that it did those of Paul. It was in him a " well 
of water springing up into everlasting life." By 
night and by day, at home and abroad, this " faith- 
ful saying" dwelt upon his heart and his tongue, 
and rendered the small sphere in which his intel- 
lect ranged, a little heaven. At length his minister 
heard that he was sick, nigh unto death, and hasten- 
ed to see him. " Joseph," said the minister, "how 
do you do] Are you happy 1" " Happy, happy," 
was the reply. " ' It is a-feithful saying and worthy 
of all acceptation, thatvTesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners, of w4ioniTlim chief.' " With 
infinite sweetness he pillowed his dying head on 
that divine thought, and the last words that trembled 
upon his pallid lips were — " It is a faitliful saying 
and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save sinners, of whom Pam 
chief." Now, reader, a gospel that thus adapts 
its blessed truths and influences to all capacities — 
that thus beautifies and blesses all that embrace it, 
must be from heaven. It must have come warm 
from a heart of infinite love. 

Permit me here to suggest a thought which ap- 
pears to me of great importance in studying the 
H 



86 THE TRUE BELIEVEB. 

truth of God. Suppose you meet with an individ- 
ual who has made great attainments in holiness, 
and whose peace in Christ is " as a river, and whose 
righteousness is as the waves of the sea," such a 
case, for example, as J. B. Taylor. Find out, now, 
just those views of the gospel from which this holi- 
ness and blessedness result, and you have found 
the pure truth of God. Such a person may hold 
many errors ; from these, however, his holiness and 
happiness never resulted. 

4. We see when it is that any one is prepared 
to proclaim the gospel, either as a minister, or in 
the private walks of life. It is when this gospel is 
" in him a well of water springing up into everlast- 
ing life." It is when, and only when, he has that 
knowledge of the " only living and true God, and 
of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent," the posses- 
sion of which is, in his own experience, eternal 
life. " Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation, 
and uphold me by thy free spirit. Then will I 
teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be 
converted to thee." 

5. We see how to make all self-denials and sacri- 
fices in the service of Christ not only easy, but 
sources of great blessedness. It is to attain, through 
the Spirit, such apprehensions of the " glory of God 
as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ," as will in- 
duce us to " esteem all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our 
Lord." When we come into such a relation to 
Christ as this, every yoke which he shall lay upon 
us will be easy, and every burden light. Chris- 
tian — if you knew Christ as you may and ought to 
know Him, the " loss of all things," and even death 
itself, for his sake, would be a privilege to you. 

6. We may also understand why the great mass 
of Christians derive so little benefit from the 



LIFE ETERNAL. 87 

preaching of the gospel. Two reasons may be 
assigned : 

A very great portion of such ministrations navel 
very little tendency to irrcrease either the holiness [ 
or happiness of the hearer, and seem to be prepared 
without any very definite reference to either of 
these objects. The preachers themselves are not 
greatly blessed in the gospel, and how is it possible 
for them, in this state of mind, so to present it, as 
to render it a source of great blessedness to others. 

But another and still more important reason is, "s 
that few Christians attend upon the word with an 1 
intense desire and expectation of receiving that ) 
knowledge of God, the possession of which is eter- 
nal life. How seldom, Christian, do you visit the 
sanctuary with your heart set upon " beholding as 
in a glass the glory of the Lord, and being changed 
into the same image from glory to glory there V 9 
No wonder, then, that you leave the sacred place 
unblessed. " Then shall ye seek me and find me, 
when ye shall search for me with all your heart." 

7. In the light of this subject we may know 
when our views of any of the doctrines of the Bible 
accord with the mind of the Spirit. It is when we 
have obtained such apprehensions of such truths as 
are in the highest degree adapted to purify the • 
heart, and render our blessedness in Christ com- 
plete. Christ came into the world to "bless us in 
turning every one of us from our iniquities." Every 
revelation which he has given, is adapted, when 
rightly apprehended, to secure these results. Every 
correct view of any revealed truth, therefore, is 
adapted to sanctify the soul and fill it with " quiet- 
ness and assurance forever." Christian, have you 
attained to such apprehensions of the gospel as 
this 1 Is the knowledge which you possess of the 
" only living and true God, and of Jesus Christ, 



88 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

whom lie hath sent," eternal life to you] If not, 
will you not ask yourself whether your views of 
the gospel must not Undergo some modifications, 
oefore you can attain to a real knowledge of the 
glory of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ] 

8. We may now understand the different ways 
in which the enthusiast and fanatic, and the individ- 
ual who is really taught of the Spirit, explain the 
Bible. The former abandons all the laws of inter- 
pretation, and receives, as the teachings of the 
Spirit, any meaning which a wild and disordered 
imagination may attach to the sacred text. The 
latter receives nothing which is hot justified and 
demanded by the laws of interpretation properly 
applied. Yet through the Spirit, he receives those 
apprehensions of the truth, which no man who re- 
lies simply upon such laws, to gain a meaning of 
the sacred text, can obtain. " The things of God 
knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." " No 
man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy 
Ghost;" that is, no man can make that affirmation, 
with an apprehension of what is really embraced 
in it, unless such apprehensions are imparted to 
him by the Holy Ghost. 

9. We may now understand why it is that the 
Bible is, to the great mass of the church, as a sealed 
book ; why it is that they feel so little interest in 
reading it, and derive so little consolation from its 
life-giving truths. It is this : they have so little 

r experience of the teachings and illumination of the 
I Spirit of God. If the Spirit were to lift the veil, 
and show them the things of Christ, as He would 
do, were His divine illuminations sought with all 
diligence, they would find themselves at once upon 
the banks of that " river, the streams whereof 
make glad the city of our God," where also "grows 
the tree of life, which yields its fruits every month, 



LIFE ETERNAL. 89 

the leaves of which are for the healing of the na- 
tions." They would find themselves the blissful "^ 
inhabitants of the land of Beulah. " The celestial 
city would be full in view," and " the Sun of right- 
eousness, gradually drawing nearer and nearer, and 
appearing larger and brighter as He approached, 
would fill the whole hemisphere ; pouring forth a 
flood of glory, in which they would seem to float 
like insects in the beams of the sun ; exulting, yet 
almost trembling, while they should gaze on this 
excessive brightness, and wondering with unutter- 
able wonder, why God should thus deign to shine 
upon a sinful worm." In their own experience, 
they would know the truth of the divine declara- 
tion, u This is life eternal, that they might know 
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom 
thou hast sent." 

Now, Christian, has not Christ been long enough 
as a "stranger and a sojourner to you V 9 Have 
you not long enough called Him yours without 
knowing Him ? Will you not now set your heart, 
through the word and teachings of the Spirit, upon 
knowing your God and Savior 1 From this time 
forth, let this be the fixed purpose of your heart, 
to know all of Christ that you possibly can know, 
to enjoy all of Him that you possibly can enjoy, 
and to do all for Him that you possibly can do. 
u Then shall your light go forth as brightness, and 
your salvation as a lamp that burnetii." 
h2 



SERMON V. 

CHRIST'S WITNESSES. 

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I 
have chosen ; that ye may know and believe me, and understand 
that I am He. — Isa., xliii., 10. 

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and 
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the 
earth.— Acts, i., 8. 

In a very important sense, all Christians are 
Christ's witnesses. It is chiefly through the instru- 
mentality of such testimony also that the world is to 
be brought back to God. It is in this relation, that 
I design to contemplate the Christian in the pres- 
ent discourse. A witness is one who bears testi- 
mony to facts of which he has personal knowledge. 
In determining the weight to be given to the testi- 
mony of a witness, two circumstances are taken 
- \into the account — his competency, and his credibility. 
A person, in order to be competent to give testi- 
mony in any instance, must be of a suitable age, 
possessed of a sane mind, and have a personal 
knowledge of the facts about which he testifies. 
* The ovmion^ a witness is not asked ; but the facts _ 
to wmcliTirom personal knowledge, he can give 
testimony. 

The credibility of a witness is determined by 
such considerations as the following : 

1. His character for veracity. 

2. The presence or absence of considerations of 
a personal nature, tending to bias his judgment, or 
to induce him to give false statements. 



Christ's witnesses. 91 

3. Cgmsistegcy, or the want of it, in his state- 
ments. Suppose a witness, in one part of his story, 
palpably contradicts what he has stated in a former 
part. This would destroy his credibility. 

4. Consistency between the facts stated and the 
conduc t of the witness. For example, suppose a 
witness professes to regard a certain individual as 
a man of great worth, when it should appear that 
he had always treated him as a worthless charac- 
ter. Such a fact would wholly destroy his credi- 
bility. 

5. The concurrence of several witnesses imparts~N 
the highest credibility to testimony. 

In presenting Christians as Christ's witnesses, I 
will direct the attention of the reader to the follow- 
ing propositions : 

I. In what respects the testimony given by 
the Apostles and primitive Christians differs 
from, and in what respects it resembles the 
testimony to be given for christ, by chris- 
tians in all ages of the world. 

II. What the actual experience of Chris- 
tians MUST BE, IN ORDER THAT THEIR TESTIMONY 
SHALL BE FOR AND NOT AGAINST ClIRIST. 

III. The necessity and obligation resting 
upon Christians, to be able to give full tes- 
timony FOR AND NOT AGAINST CHRIST. 

1. In what respects the testimony given by the 
Apostles and primitive Christians differs from, and 
in what respects it resembles the testimony to be given 
for Christ, by Christians in all ages of the world. 

There is one respect now, in which Christians 
can bear no part with the Apostles and primitive 
Christians, in the testimony which they bear for 
Christ. I refer to the facts recorded in the Bible ; 
facts of which the latter were eye-witnesses. Take 



92 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

a single statement as an example. " I delivered 
unto you first of all that which I also received, how 
that Christ died for our sins according to the scrip- 
tures ; and that he was buried, and that He rose 
again the third day, according to the scriptures ; 
and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : 
after that, He was seen of above five hundred breth- 
ren at once." 

Now the business of those here referred to, as 
witnesses for Christ, was, to affirm to the world, 
that, as here stated, they had " heard Christ, seen 
Him with their eyes, looked upon Him, and han- 
dled Him with their hands." So of many other 
facts recorded in the Bible. Those who had been 
eye-witnesses of those facts were to testify to the 
world " the things which they had seen and heard." 
Jn this kind of testimony, no Christians in any sub- 
sequent age, can bear any part whatever. They 
can only r eport to the world the testimony which 
the original witnesses have handed down to them. 

But there is another kind of testimony for Christ, 
equally, and, if possible, still more important, which 
Christians in every age are required to bear, in 
common with the Apostles and primitive Christians. 
~ hey are required to bear testimony to the truth 
of whatever the Bible affirms of Christian experience. 
n other words — whatever results the Bible affirms 
shall follow from embracing the gospel, every Chris- 
tian, in consequence of having realized these re- 
sults in his own experience, is required to stand 
as a witness before the world to confirm the testi- 
mony of God. For example : " Come unto me, all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is 
easy, and my burden is light." 



<3 



CHRIST S WITNESSES. 93 

Christians are required to give testimony to the 
world, and that from their own experience, that 
the result of taking Christ's yoke and bearing his 
burden, is the very rest and peace here promised. <— 
/ So in respect to all the " exceeding great and pre- 
| cious promises,' ' and declarations of Scripture per- 
l taining to the results of embracing the gospel Jjy^ 
faith. Christians are required to give testrmony to 
the world from experience, that all such promises 
and declarations are " yea and amen in Christ Je- 
sus." So far as they are able to give such testi- 
mony — so far, and so far only, are they qualified to 
stand before the world as witnesses for Christ. So 
far as their experience corresponds with such dec- 
larations and promises, so far that testimony is hon- 
orable to Christ. So far as it does not correspond 
with, or is opposed to such declarations and prom- 
ises, so far it is dishonorable to Christ, or against 
Him before the world. 

Here permit me to remark, that Christians are 
required, not only to give formal testimony for 
Christ in these respects, but in their visible expe- 
rience and example before the world, to be " living *** 
epistles" (or witnesses) " of Christ, known and read 
of all men." It should also be remembered, that 
Christians a re in fac t, at all times and in all circum- 
stances, in tneir example before the world, giving 
their testimony either for Christ or against Him. 
Their very profession has made them " spectacles 
to God, to angels, and to men." They are there- 
fore, in their conversation and deportment, always 
giving their testimony in favor of or against God's 
truth. How solemn the position that man assumes 
who, before the world, professes himself a child of 
God. He stands as a medium of communication > 
between God and the world — a medimn^t Q t r angs, , < 
mit the beams. of the Sun of Righteousness- — or, by 



94 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

obstructing those rays, to perpetuate and render 
more dark the darkness which covers the earth. 

II. What the actual experience of Christians must 
he, in order that they may testify for, and not against 
Christ. 

In the very act of professing himself a Christian, 
a man presents himself to the world as a competent 
witness for Christ, with all the knowledge and 
other qualifications requisite to render his testi- 
mony worthy of confidence. He professes to have 
embraced the gospel as required, and to have tested 
in his own experience, its power to produce the 
results attributed to it in the Bible, when thus re- 
ceived. He, therefore, voluntarily presents him- 
self to the world as a witness fully qualified to tes- 
tify to the world, whether all the promises of the 
Bible to those who embrace the gospel are, or are 
not " yea and amen in Christ Jesus." What, then, 
must the Christian be in his religious experience, in 
order that he may be found a true, and not a false 
witness for Christ ] 

1. He must be pure in heart and life. In pro- 
fessing ourselves CKristians, we profess to have 
" laid hold upon the hope set before us in the gos- 
pel. " Now the Bible affirms "that every one that 
hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He 
is pure." Christian, what is the influence of your 
hope ? Does it lead you to seek the purity which 
God possesses ] If such is its manifest influence, 
you are a true witness for Christ. If not, your tes- 
timony to the world is a standing affirmation, that 
the above declaration of God is not true. What a 
fearful thing it is for one to profess to have this hope, 
and not to present to the world an exhibition of and 
a testimony to its purifying power and influence. 

In professing ourselves Christians, we also affirm 



CHRIST S WITNESSES. 95 

to the world, that we exercise the jkiih which the * 
gospel requires. The Bible affirms of faith, that it 
" worketh by love" — that it " purifies the heart" 
— " purifying their hearts by faith" — that it " over- 
cometh the world" — " this is the victory that over- 
cometh the world, even our faith." As we profess 
to exercise this faith, we profess ourselves qualified 
to stand as witnesses, to testify to the world, wheth- 
er the influence of faith corresponds with the above 
declarations of Scripture. If, from its conscious 
and visible effects upon ourselves, we can affirm 
that the " gospel is the power of God unto salva-S^ 
tion to every one that believeth," our testimony is' 
for Christ. If not, it is against Him. It is a per- 
petual affirmation to the world, that such declara- 
tions as the above respecting the influence of faith 
are not true. 

Again : in professing ourselves Christians, we j 
affirm to the world that " CJarist is in us" and " we 
in Him," according to the meaning which the Bi- 
b]e attaches to such phraseology. The Scriptures 
affirm, on the one hand, " if any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, 
and behold all things have become new ;" and that 
" whosoever abideth in Him doth not commit sin." 
On the other hand, they affirm, that if " Christ is in 

fej us," the "body is dead because of sin, but the spirit 
I is life because of righteousness," and that we shall 
" be all-powerful against the temptations of the devil. 

($ " Sfepsiger is He that is in you, than he that is in 
the world." Christian, what are the effects of your 
" abiding in Christ," and " his abiding in you," as 
developed in your experience ? Do they corre- 
spond with the above declarations of the Bible? Just 
so far as you are possessed of conscious and mani- 
fest purity, so far your testimony is for the truth of 
God, and the honor of Christ. So far, on the other 



96 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

hand, as sin, in any form, has dominion over you, 
so far your testimony is against the truth of God, 
and to the dishonor of Christ. 

Once more : in professing .ourselves Christians, 
we affirm, that we "have tjia. spirit of Christ." 
" For if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he 
is none of his." What is the fruit of the Spirit, as 
affirmed by the word of God % " The fruit of the 
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : against such 
there is no law." " They that are Christ's," that is, 
all that have his spirit, " have crucified the world, 
with its affections and lusts." You affirm that you 
are Christ's, and that " his spirit dwells in you." 
Can you testify to the world, that the " fruit of the 
spirit," as developed in your experience, corre- 
sponds with these affirmations of the Bible? Are 
you found a true or a false witness for Christ ? 

We come, then, to this solemn conclusion. So 
far, and so far only, as we are pure and holy in 
heart and life, so far our testimony to the effects 
of embracing the gospel, is honorable to Christ. 
So far as sin, in any form or degree, dwells within 
us, or has dominion over us, so far we are found 
false witnesses for Christ. 

2. To be found true and not false witnesses for 
Christ, we must possess, through the gospel, great 
and constant peace of mind. As Christians, we pro- 
fess to love the law of God. We should not think 
of calling ourselves Christians, if we did not believe 
ourselves to love it. The Bible declaration is : 
" Great peace have they that love thy law, and 
nothing shall offend them." As Christians, we pro- 
fess to "stay ourselves upon God," and to " trust 
in Him." The Bible affirms that " God will keep 
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him, 
because he trusts in Him." In declaring ourselves 



Christ's witnesses. 97 

Christians, we affirm our belief in Christ. The Bi- 
ble asserts that those who believe in Christ, in con- 
sequence of "believing in Him, rejoice with joy- 
unspeakable and full of glory." 

In declaring ourselves Christians, we affirm that 
we are righteo us in the true sense in which men 
are called sointhe Bible. We of course profess 
to have experienced the effects of righteousness 
upon the happiness of those who possess it, and to 
be able as witnesses to testify to the world what 
those effects are. The Bible affirms, that "the fruit 
of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of 
righteousness shall be quietness and assurance for- 
ever," and that "in keeping the commandments of 
God there is great reward." What God requires 
of us as Christians is, to stand before the world, and 
from conscious experience, and from what the world 
see in us, to testify that these are the identical fruits 
which result from loving God's law, believing and 
trusting in Him, keeping his commandments, and 
practicing righteousness, as we profess to do. If 
we can thus testify for Christ, we are his true and 
faithful witnesses, and will be owned by Him as 
such at his coming and Kingdom. Happy is that 
witness whom Christ will thus own. But if we can 
not give such testimony, we are found false witnesses 
for Christ, and as such we shall stand in the Judg- 
ment. Christian, where shall you and I then appear ] 

3. To be true and not false witnesses for Christ, 
we must have joy and peace in affliction. As Christ- 
ians, we profess to have the faith by which sinners 
are justified. The Bible affirms that those who ex- 
ercise this faith have joy in God, and consolation in 
Christ, in all the afflictions of life. " Being justi- 
fied by faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access 
by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and re- 
I 



98 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

joice in hope of the glory of God. And not only 
so, but we glory in tribulations also : knowing that 
tribulation worketh patience ; and patience expe- 
rience ; and experience hope ; and hoge maketh 
not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is 
given unto us." 

"j?his is declared to be the common experience 
of all true believers. " In all these things we are 
more than conquerors through Him that loved us." 
" These light afflictions, which are but for a mo- 
ment, work out for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory ; while we look, not at the 
things which are seen, but at the things which are 
not seen. ,, Christ requires us to testify to the 
world, from experience, that such are the effects 
of believing in Him. Christian, are you able to 
give such testimony for your Lord ] If so, He 
will own you as a faithful and true witness for 
Him. If not, will you not be ashamed before 
Him, at his coming] 

4. To be found faithful and true witnesses for 
Christ, we must have "fellowship with God, and 
with his Son Jesus Christ," and have great power 
in prayer. " Truly, ourfellowship is with the Father, 
and with his Son Jesus Christ." This is declared 
to be true of all Christians. " The effectual, fer- 
vent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." 
Christian, is this true ] What says your experi- 
ence ] You profess to be a righteous man. Have 
you " power with God ?" Do you know what it 
is to prevail with Him in prayer ] 

Christ promises to every believer, that " whatso- 
ever he shall ask of the Father in his name, He 
will do it." He requires you to test the efficacy 
of his name, so as to be able to testify from expe- 
rience, that that declaration is true, and thus rec- 



Christ's witnesses. 99 

omraend it to the world. Can you thus testify to 
the efficacy of that dear and venerable name at the 
throne of grace? Can you, for this reason, hope 
that Christ will at last own you as a true and faith- 
ful witness for Him 1 

5. To be found true and faithful witnesses for 
Christ, we must possess great and imj^rtial love 
to all true believers. As Christians, we profess, 
alfalTove remarked, to have the Spirit of Christ, 
What is that spirit ? "What says the Spirit of In- 
spiration ? Hear it : " Having loved his own which 
were in the world, He loved them to the end." "I 
lay down my life for the sheep." u As the Father 
hath loved me, so have I loved you." Does the 
Spirit of Christ dwelling in you, as you profess to 
the world, induce in you the exercise and practice 

v of similar love to Christ's brethren ? Is this the 
testimony which, from personal experience, you 
can bear to the influence of that spirit ] If so, 
Christ will own you at last, as a faithful and true 
witness for Him. But will He thus own you 1 

6. To be found faithful and true witnesses for 
Christ, his spirit, which we as Christians affirm to 
be within us, must induce in us similar love to the 
souls of men. The Bible affirms of those who have 
his spirit, that " the love of Christ constraineth them ; 
while they thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
were all dead ; and that He died for all, that they 
which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
selves, but unto Him that died for them and rose 
again." Can you say, from experience, as a wit- 
ness for Christ, that such is its constraining influ- 
ence upon those in whom his spirit dwells ? If so, 
He will own you as a faithful and true witness, 
when He comes " to make up his jewels." Per- 
mit me, however, to ask you the solemn question, 
Will He thus own you 1 



100 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

7. To be found true and faithful witnesses for 
Christ, there must be in our conscious experience 
ajDontinued ^grow^h in the strength and power of 
our holy exercises, and in the blessedness thence 
resulting. The Bible affirms, that "the path of the 
just is as the shining light, which shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day." Can you, as a witness 
for Christ, testify from experience, that this decla- 
ration is true ; and will Christ, as the " faithful 
and true witness," testify to the universe, at the 
great day, that you have been thus faithful and 
true to Him ? 

I might enlarge upon this part of the subject, by 
an enumeration of a greater number of particulars ; 
but these are sufficient. 

III. The necessity and obligation laid zipon all 
Christians to be able to give full testimony for, and 
not against Christ. 

1. Nothing is requisite on our part to qualify us 
to stand before the world as faithful and true wit- 
nesses for Christ, but a fulfillment of our covenant 
vows to God and the church. "When we stood up, 
before God and the world, to avouch the Lord Jeho- 
vah to be our God, we then pledged ourselves, under 
the solemnity of an oath, to test, in our own expe- 
rience, the truth and faithfulness of God in every 
promise and declaration of his word, and thus be able 
to testify to the world, as the witnesses of Christ, to 
the truth and faithfulness of God in all such prom- 
ises and declarations. Remember, then, Christian, 
that if you are not fully qualified to stand before 
the world as a witness for Christ, it is because of 
fearful unfaithfulness in respect to God's holy cov- 
enant. Let me also remind you of the fact, that 
the first and great duty devolved upon you by 
your covenant vow, is to qualify yourself, through 



Christ's witnesses. 101 

the grace and Spirit of God, to testify as a witness 
for Christ. 

2. You have only to avail yourself, Christian, 
of the revealed provisions of grace for your sanc- 
tification and blessedness, and you are, in all re- 
spects, a qualified witness for Christ. That you 
" might be dead to sin and live to righteousness," 
that the " righteousness of the law might be ful- 
filled in you," and that, consequently, the blissful 
fruits of righteousness might abound in you, and 

• you thus be qualified as a witness for Him, to tes- 
tify that " the fruit of righteousness is peace, and the 
effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for- 
ever," "He has borne your sins in His own body 
on the tree." He has given you His word and 
Spirit, and all the ordinances of His grace. He 
has pledged Himself to you, that if you will avail 
yourself of these provisions by faith, He will ren- 
der the truth of every promise and declaration of 
God's word, to the truth and faithfulness of which 
you are called upon to testify for Him, a conscious 
reality in your experience. What a fearful respon- 
sibility rests upon you to render yourself, in all 
respects, a qualified witness for Christ. 

3. Christians themselves, and God through them, 
can demonstrate to the world His own truth and 
faithfulness, in respect to the "exceeding great and 
precious promises" and declarations pertaining to 
Christian experience, only by the experience and 
testimony of His people to the reality of such ex- 
perience. How, for example, can it be shown to 
the world, that " great peace have they that love 
God's law," or that "the fruit of righteousness is 
peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness 
and assurance forever," only through the experi- 
ence and testimony of those who love the law, and 
perform those works of righteousness ? The same 

i2 



102 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

principle holds true in respect to all the promises 
and declarations of inspiration, like those above 
cited. The necessity and importance, then, of 
Christians being able to give this testimony for 
Christ, is just as great as that the world should be 
convinced that God is true and faithful in the prom- 
ises and declarations of His word. How infinite 
the obligation resting upon every Christian, to stand 
before the world, fully qualified to testify, as a true 
and faithful witness for Christ. 

4. Mankind, in their convictions of the truth of 
the Bible are more influenced by such experience 
and testimony, than by all other considerations to- 
gether. Array before them the external evidences 
of the truth of the Bible, and they can remain still 
in unbelief. Present them with any naked decla- 
ration of Scripture, and they are comparatively 
unmoved. Present now that same declaration, ver- 
ified in the actual and manifest experience of a 
multitude of believers, and they are not only forced 
to acknowledge the declaration itself to be true, 
but the Bible which contains it to be from heaven. 
Thus it is that the church, by fully qualifying her- 
self to testify for Christ, has it in her power to 
force infidelity and skepticism, in every form, from 
the earth, and to bring the world back to God. The 
necessity and obligation resting upon all Christians 
to qualify themselves to testify for Christ, is just as 
great as the importance of the redemption of the 
world, whose redemption is suspended, as far as 
instrumentalities are concerned, upon such testi- 
mony. 

5. The main objections brought against Chris- 
tianity, everywhere, rest upon its apparent effects 
in the visible experience of those who professedly 
embrace it ; these effects, in a vast majority of in- 
stances, being so unlike the results which the Bible 



Christ's witnesses. 103 

affirms shall follow a reception of the gospel. So 
long as this state of things continues, so long un- 
belief fills the earth, and the great mass of men 
remain estranged from God. As long as the light 
that is in the professed people of God is so com- 
paratively dark, how great must be the darkness 
which covers the earth ! how gross the darkness 
which covers the people ! A church fully quali- 
fied to testify for Christ, and such a church only, 
can become the light of the world. Let the church 
become visibly adorned with all the blissful fruits 
of righteousness, and the cavils of the unbeliever 
are silenced, the vain excuses of the impenitent 
are wrested from them, and the gospel becomes 
omnipotent for the redemption of lost men. So 
great are the necessity and obligation resting upon 
Christians to be able to give full testimony for 
Christ. 

REMARKS. 

1. I will first notice a great mistake into which 
many have fallen in regard to the advantages which 
primitive Christians enjoyed for demonstrating to 
the world the truth of the gospel, as compared 
with the advantages possessed by Christians now, 
for accomplishing the same object. On account 
of the power of miracles, and the gift of tongues, 
it is thought that their advantages were altogether 
superior to those now enjoyed. It would be easy 
to show, that through the record of these events 
which has been left us, and the great facility of 
spreading these records before the world, through 
the press, we now enjoy almost, if not quite, as 
great advantages in this respect as they did. 

There is another respect, however, in which our 
advantages are so much superior to theirs, as to 
render the balance altogether in our favor. Our 



104 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

advantages m acquiring a knowledge of the gospel, 
and consequently of giving the world a full dem- 
onstration of its truth (the highest demonstration 
which it admits), are indefinitely superior to theirs. 
For example, thousands of years ago, an inspired 
writer affirmed that M great peace have they who 
love God's law, and nothing shall offend them." In 
that affirmation it is clearly implied that none have 
such peace who do not love this law. The experi- 
ence of all sinners presents a full demonstration 
of the truth of this implication. Should the expe- 
rience of the church at this day present a demon- 
stration equally full, of the truth of that affirmation, 
how could the world resist the conviction that that 
law is from heaven 1 

Again : thousands of years ago, an inspired 
prophet made the following affirmations : — " The 
wicked are like the troubled sea, when it can not 
rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There 
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." The 
unvarying experience of all sinners, in all ages, 
presents an undeniable demonstration of the truth 
of the above declarations. Again he says, " The 
fruit of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect 
of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance 
forever." If, at this distant age, the church were to 
present a demonstration, in her experience, of the 
truth, that "the effect of righteousness is quietness 
and assurance," would she not exhibit to the world 
a standing proof of the truth of the Bible 1 

Once more : eighteen hundred years ago, an 
inspired Apostle affirmed that every one that be- 
lieves in Christ " overcomes the world," and that 
no one who does not believe in Him does " over- 
come the world." The bondage under the power 
of sin, in which all are who are destitute of faith 
in Christ, fully proves the declaration last cited 8 



Christ's witnesses. 105 

Should the church, through faith in Christ, present 
to the world a glorious victory over " the world, 
the flesh, and the devil, " what need would there 
be of miracles to demonstrate the divine origin 
of the Bible ? The church herself would then 
be, to all the world, a standing miracle, proving, 
beyond all contradiction, that the gospel is from 
heaven. 

Suppose, now, that while all the declarations of 
the Bible, relating to the impenitent, meet an un- 
questionable fulfillment in the conscious and mani- 
fest experience of sinners, that all " the exceeding 
great and precious promises,' , and affirmations of 
that sacred book, pertaining to believers, meet an 
equally manifest fulfillment in the experience of 
the church — would it not be just as obvious to all 
mankind, that the Bible is the sun and center of 
the moral world, as it is that the natural sun is the 
great light and center of the natural world ] 

Are not the advantages of the church to give 
such demonstrations increased, just in proportion 
to her distance from the time when the Scriptures 
were written % For these reasons, together with 
the greater facilities now enjoyed, to understand 
and publish the gospel, may it not be safely af- 
firmed, that the church was never before placed in 
circumstances so favorable to show to the world the 
divine origin of that gospel as she is at the present 
time. 

2. We may understand the true cause of all the 
infidelity which exists. Unbelievers, it should be 
stated, are without excuse before God. But when 
we inquire for the cause of the strange unbelief 
which, in various forms, pervades Christendom, may 
it not be safely affirmed, that if the church had giv- 
en the testimony for Christ which she might and 
ought to have given, such infidelity would never 



106 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

have existed ? Is not the church, then, responsible 
for its existence and perpetuity % Can we reason- 
ably hope that the condition of the world will be 
much changed for the better, so long as the testi- 
mony of the church, " known and read of all men," 
in her own experience and example, is so strong 
against the Bible ] 

Suppose, reader, that the world could have no 
higher evidence than the church presents, in her 
common experience and example, of the truth of 
such promises and declarations as we have been 
considering, of which the Scriptures are full, and 
that, consequently, the Bible itself is true — -would 
not the world be justified in the conclusion, that the 
Bible is not from God ] 

Blessed be God, other testimony does exist, which 
vindicates the faithfulness and honor of God, and 
leaves the sinner without excuse. 

3. We may understand what the honor of God 
and the salvation of the world demand. It is the 
raising up of a witnessing church for Christ — a 
church who can, through her own experience, bear 
full testimony to the world, to the truth and faith- 
fulness of God, in all the u exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises" and declarations of his word, per- 
taining to believers in this life. 

When Zion shall thus " arise and shine, her light 
being come, and the glory of the Lord being risen 
upon her," then will the " Gentiles come to her 
light, and kings to the brightness of her rising," 
and all " the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
and glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea." 

4. The kind, and almost the only kind of testi- 
mony which the great mass of the church are able 
to give for Christ, here claims our attention. Take 
a single passage in illustration : " Thou wilt keep 



Christ's witnesses. 107 

him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee ; 
because he trusteth in thee." Few can testify 
from conscious experience, that those who thus 
trust in God, and stay themselves upon Him, are 
in fact kept in perfect peace. This is their testi- 
mony : If we should thus trust in God, and stay 
ourselves upon Him, He would thus keep us. What 
more is this than impenitent sinners can say ] It is 
the mere expression of an opinion, and is no testi- 
mony at all. Beside, the worth of the opinion is de- 
stroyed by a course of life directly opposed to such 
declarations. The witness affirms his belief, that if 
he would stay his mind upon God, He would keep 
him in perfect peace. He then, by withholding 
such confidence, demonstrates to the world, that in 
that declaration he is not sincere ; and thus annihi- 
lates the force of his own affirmation. 

The testimony of the church in favor of the gos- 
pel, will never be received, and ought never to be 
received as of any value, until there is a manifest 
consistency between her professions and her con- 
duct. 

5. We see, from this subject, how far any one 
can have evidence that he is a real Christian. " In 
keeping thy commandments there is a great re- 
ward." " Whom having not seen we love ; and in 
whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, 
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
Now just so far as any one is conscious that these 
and similar declarations of the Bible are fulfilled 
in his experience, so far he has evidence that he 
is a Christian. So far as he lacks such experi- 
ence, so far is he not only destitute of such evi- 
dence, but the probability is altogether against 
him. 

6. What then, in the light of this subject, must 
we think of the real condition of a large portion of 



108 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

professing Christians % Faithfulness to souls com- 
pels me to say, that either the Bible is not the word 
of God, or they are not Christians. Their uniform 
experience is a continual affirmation that God is 
not true and faithful in the promises and declara- 
tions of his word pertaining to believers in this life. 
Will Christ say to such at last, Well done, true and 
faithful witnesses, " Ye have been faithful over a 
few things, I will make you rulers over many 
things. Enter ye into the joy of your Lord." " Be 
not deceived, God is not mocked. What a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." 

7. We see, in the light of this subject, why it is 
that preaching the most soul-stirring truths of the 
gospel has so little effect upon sinners. It is the 
testimony of the church, given in her experience 
and example before the world, that what the preach- 
er says is not worthy to be regarded. When a min- 
ister warns sinners to " flee from the wrath to come," 
does the church in her manifest concern for them, 
in her daily intercourse with them, affirm to sinners 
that such warnings are worthy to be regarded 1 
When the preacher promises present and eternal 
blessedness on condition of "repentance toward 
God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ," 
does the testimony of the church, through her man- 
ifest experience, affirm to sinners that such " prom- 
ises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus V Nothing 
is farther from the truth. No wonder then that 
the " gospel of the blessed God" does not " prove 
mighty through God to the pulling down of 
strongholds." And, Christian, it is a solemn in- 
quiry how far you and I are responsible for this 
state of things. Is it not time for us to go upon 
our knees and put this solemn question to our- 
selves ? 

8. In the light of this subject we can understand 



Christ's witnesses. 109 

the ground of the prejudice which now extensively 
prevails against individuals speaking of their own 
experience — or, "telling what the Lord has done 
for their souls." Such a prejudice surely has no 
foundation in any precept or example recorded in 
the Bible. On what foundation then does it rest! 
I am constrained to express the conviction, that it 
rests on a conscious want of any important experi- 
ence to which to give testimony. Could a Payson, 
as he lay floating as a little speck in an ocean of 
bliss that knew no bounds but the extent of his ca- 
pacities, have refrained from testifying to what 
the grace of Christ had wrought in him] By no 
means ; and in all instances, when the "love of God 
is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit,'' 
" they that fear the Lord will speak often one to an- 
other," "and will magnify the grace of Christ," by 
testifying to the power of that grace in their own 
souls. 

9. We may now understand one of the reasons 
of the hardness of heart, and abandonment of the 
Spirit of God, of which a large portion of the 
church complain so much. It is the gross hypoc- 
risy which is practiced in many of our most sacred 
exercises. Take a single example in illustration. 
How often does the church in her hymns testify 
before the world to her own love and devotion to 
Christ, in language like the following: 

" E'er since by faith I saw the stream 
Thy flowing wounds supply, 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 
And shall be till 1 die." 

I ask if this declaration is true 1 Has redeeming 
love been the theme of the mass of the church 

" E'er since by faith she saw the stream ?" 

What then must be the influence upon the world, 
K 



110 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

and upon our own hearts of testifying to such a fact, 
when it is known to be untrue ? Again, 

" Since from his bounty I receive 
Such proofs of love divine, 
Had I a thousand hearts to give, 
Lord, they should all be thine." 

How often does the professor of religion declare 
before God and the world that if he had a thousand 
hearts, he would give them all to Christ, and then 
openly takes away his one heart from Him and be- 
stows it upon the most trifling objects conceivable. 
Has not God said, " Be ye not mockers, lest your 
bands be made strong V Is he not a " God of truth 
and without iniquity V 9 And has he not said that 
41 iniquity shall not dwell with Him?" If then, in 
his sacred presence, we, in any form, testify to what 
is untrue, will He not consider it, and send leanness 
into our souls ? 

10. We see from this subject that if the doctrine 
of " perfection" is not true, and also if it is never 
actually to be realized in the experience of believers 
in this life, then Christ will never have a witness 
here fully qualified to testify to the world to his truth 
and faithfulness in many (and I may say most) of 
his " exceeding great and precious promises." 
Take one as an illustration: — "And the very God 
of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your 
whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." 
Now it is here asserted that " the God of peace" is 
worthy of our confidence for not only perfect, but 
continued sanctification ; and that when we thus 
trust Him, He will thus sanctify and preserve us. 
No Christian, until he has so trusted God for this 
blessing, as to be brought into and preserved in a 
state of entire consecration to Christ, can testify 



Christ's witnesses. Ill 

that God is worthy to be trusted for such a bless- 
ing ; and so far as he withholds the confidence in 
God, requisite to receive the grace of entire sanc- 
tification, so far does he in his conduct before the 
world testify that God is not worthy to be trusted 
in respect to any such promise. The same princi- 
ple holds true in respect to a great portion of the 
promises of divine grace ; since they directly proffer 
to our faith the same blessing. Shall we suppose, 
as the doctrine of Imperfection affirms, that Christ 
has by an express revelation required us to believe, 
that He will never have a witness on earth fully 
qualified to testify to his own truth and faithful- 
ness? 

11. We may notice the unreasonableness of the 
sentiment so common in the church, that if an in- 
dividual should attain to a state of "perfection/' he 
would not be permitted to live any longer upon earth. 
On this sentiment I remark : 

(1.) It has not the shadow of a foundation in a 
solitary passage, hint, or principle of the Bible. 

(2.) It is opposed to the positive teachings of in- 
spiration. " What man is he that desireth life, and 
loveth many days, that he may see good ] Keep 
thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking 
guile. Depart from evil, and do good ; seek peace 
and pursue it." 

(3.) The principle itself is intrinsically absurd. 
It affirms, that when Christ has once fully qualified 
an individual to testify for Him, He will not allow 
him to give testimony at all. Such, reader, is the 
doctrine of Imperfection. 

12. We see when it is, that a Christian " wit- 
nesses a good confession" for Christ. It is, when he 
testifies that Christ has fulfilled in him any promise 
of his grace, whatever it may be, and when his life 
corresponds with that testimony. Such testimony is 



112 THE TRUE BELIEVER. . 

in the highest sense honorable to Christ. Suppose 
an individual professes to have received from Christ, 
as far as past and present experience goes, a fulfill- 
ment of the promise recorded in 1 Thess., v., 23, 24, 
and that his life corresponds with that profession. 
That testimony is most credible and most highly 
honorable to God. Such witnesses for Christ the 
church needs; and a great cloud of such witnesses, 
I doubt not, Christ will soon raise up for Himself. 
13. We may judge of the propriety of the strange 
prejudice which exists in many minds against such 
testimony for Christ as this. To illustrate, permit 
me to state a fact. A brother in the ministry had 
for years been able to testify for Christ, only that 
his first love had left an " aching void within," which 
neither the world, nor any thing which he could 
subsequently find in the gospel, could fill. As long 
as he gave this gloomy testimony, it was received 
as honorable to Christ, and as an evidence that he 
was a " faithful minister of the New Testament.' , 
Subsequently, however, he was permitted to " be- 
hold with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the 
Lord, and was changed into the same image, from 
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
He then came before his brethren as a witness for 
Christ, and humbly testified that Christ, in con- 
formity with his own " exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises," had " circumcised his heart to love 
the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his 
soul," — that He had " sprinkled clean water upon 
him, and made him clean," — that He had " sancti- 
fied him wholly," and was preserving him with a 
" conscience void of offense toward God, and to- 
ward men." In respect to the blessedness of the 
state to which the grace of Christ had brought him, 
he testified that, in conformity with the promises of 
God, " the sun was no more his light by day ; neither 



CHRIST S WITNESSES. 113 

for brightness did the moon give light unto him : but 
the Lord was unto him an everlasting light, and his 
God his glory. His sun did no more go down ; 
neither did his moon withdraw itself; for the Lord 
was his everlasting light, and the days of his mourn- 
ing were ended." As soon as he thus testified to 
the truth and faithfulness of Christ, in his acknowl- 
edged promises to his people, his associates, who 
had received his former testimony as honorable to 
Christ, took measures to eject him from the minis- 
try, and would not rest till, like Joseph, " he was 
separated from his brethren." Truly may God 
say, " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his 
master's crib ; but Israel doth not know ; my peo- 
ple do not consider." 

14. We see why it is that many Christians com- 
plain that they find very little to do for Christ, and 
are able to exert but little influence as Christians 
in the world. A witness will not often be called 
to testify in court, when it is known, that he has 
little or nothing to say that would be of use. But 
when it is known that he has important facts to 
state, his testimony will certainly be sought. Is 
not this the reason, Christian, why Christ does so 
little through you, that you have nothing to testify 
to that would be honorable to Him, or serviceable 
to his cause ] If, on the other hand, you will so 
avail yourself of his grace as to qualify yourself to 
testify for Him, very soon the sweet message will 
come to you, " The Master is come and calleth for 
thee." He will place you in circumstances where 
great results will turn upon the testimony which 
you shall render for Him. "He that abideth in 
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit." And now, Christian, " abide in Him, that 
when He shall appear, we may have confidence, 
and not be ashamed before Him at his coming." 
k2 



SERMON VI. 

THE GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE 
BELIEVER. 

And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, 
that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may 
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast 
loved me.— John, xvii., 22, 23. 

I have read, with great interest and profit, your 
remarks upon John xvii., 20-23, said a beloved 
brother to me some years since. It seems to me, 
however, that there is a richness and glory about 
the passage which you have hardly begun to devel- 
op. " The glory which thou gavest me I have 
given them." What does this mean ] What an 
inheritance of glory and blessedness is here de- 
volved upon the Christian ! And all this glory 
and blessedness are mine, when I have faith to re- 
ceive them. This is the legacy which Jesus Christ 
has left to every believer. Who can express the 
" breadth, and depth, and length, and height" of 
the love disclosed in these blessed words ! Yet it 
is all a reality, and may be such in my own ex- 
I perience. I may enjoy this inheritance, not mere- 
ly in eternity, but in this life also. For it is given 
for the express purpose of rendering believers 

("perfect in one, that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast 
loved me." 

It was this conversation, together with a dis- 
course upon these words, subsequently delivered 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 115 

by that brother, that led to the train of thought to 
which the attention of the reader is now invited. 
Three facts presented in this passage deserve spe- 
cial attention, as preparatory to the train of thought 
which I design to pursue. 

1. It is a fundamental design of Christ, in the 
arrangements of his grace, to identify his people 
in all possible respects with Himself, conferring 
upon them whatever the Father has conferred 
upon Him. " The glory which thou gavest me, I 
have given them" — " That the love wherewith 
thou hast loved them may be in them, and I in 
them" — " That they might have my joy fulfilled in 
themselves ;" that is, that they might be filled with 
the blessedness which I myself possess — " That the 
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast 
loved them, as thou hast loved me" — " Because I 
live, ye shall live also" — " As thou hast sent me 
into the world, so have I sent them into the 
world." 

2. The glory referred to in the text is a legacy 
conferred by Christ upon every believer. It is, 
therefore, his privilege as well as duty to possess 
and enjoy it. This is evident from the context. 
"Neither pray I for these [my disciples] alone, 
but for them also who shall believe on me through 
their word." He then adds, " And the glory which 
thou gavest me, I have given them;" that is, all 
believers. 

3. It is the privilege and duty of every Christian 
to possess this glory, not only in eternity, but in 
$iis h ife. It is given, as remarked above, for the 
express purpose of inducing the world to believe 
in Christ. It is, therefore, given as a good to be 
enjoyed by the believer in this life. In the further 
elucidation of the great truths presented in this 
passage, we will inquire : 



116 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

I. What is the glory which the Father 

CONFERRED UPON ClIRIST. 

II. The glory which Christ has conferred 
upon his people. 

III. The design of this arrangement. 

IV. The state to which believers must at- 
tain TO POSSESS this glory. 

V. HOW THEY MAY ATTAIN THIS STATE. 

VI. The consequences of their making such 

ATTAINMENTS, AND POSSESSING THE GLORY CONFER- 
RED UPON THEM. 

I. What is the glory which the Father conferred 
upon Christ. 

It implies : 

1. The glory of giving the world and the uni- 
verse a representation, full and distinct, of the 
moral ch arac ter of God. The highest holiness of 
intelligent beings, and the highest blessedness of 
all the holy, depend upon such a revelation of the 
perfections, character, and glory of God being 
made to their minds. In the " creation of the 
world, the invisible things of God, even his eternal 
power and Godhead, are clearly seen." In the 
same work, together w T ith the dispensations of uni- 
versal providence, the moral perfections of God are 
shadowed forth with somewhat similar distinctness. 
In all these, however, the reflections of the divine 
glory are comparatively feeble. The heart of God 
could not by such means be unveiled to the appre- 
hension of the universe, with such distinctness and 
fullness, that with " open face, they could behold 
the glory of the Lord." 

The plan of redemption presented an opportu- 
nity for accomplishing this glorious consummation. 
Here God could make such a revelation of Him- 
self, of his infinite and boundless love to intelligent 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 117 

beings, that the glory resulting from all his former 
works would " not be remembered nor come into 
mind." The glory of accomplishing this work, the 
highest honor in the power of the Godhead to be- 
stow, the Father conferred upon Christ. In the 
accomplishment of this work, Christ appears, in 
all He did, said, and taught, as the " image of the 
invisible God," as " the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of his person." " No 
man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten 
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath 
declared Him;" that is, led Him out, or •disclosed 
his glory, with full and perfect distinctness to the 
apprehensions of the universe. All that " have 
seen Christ," and have apprehended his character, 
"have seen the Father." The honor of appearing 
before the universe, as a pure and spotless mirror, » 
reflecting the " image and glory of God," is the 
glory which the Father conferred upon Christ. 

2. Another element of this glory is the honor of 
carrying into accomplishment God's purposes of ^ 
infinite love and mercy, in the rjpj]£j£upikm of lost* 
men. In the counsels of eternity, the plan was 
laid, in the accomplishment of which provisions 
were to be made, that the lost sinner of our race 
might escape the endless consequences of his own 
guilt and folly, and be recovered to holiness and 
the favor of God. Of all the works of God, this • 
excelled in glory. The glory of carrying this work 
into accomplishment, the Father conferred upon 
Christ. It was in view of this fact, that Christ de- 
clared, just before He left the world, " I have glo- 
rified thee upon the earth, I have finisjied the work 
which thou gavest me to do." 

3. Another element of this glory is the honor of 
having the Father dwell in Him, and render Him *; 
even in his humiliation, the object of the diving 



118 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

love and favor. When the Father " brought his 
first begotten into the world," He required even 
the hosts of heaven to " worship Him." "When 
he commenced his public ministry the Father, by 
a voice from heaven, proclaimed Him as His "be- 
loved Son, in whom" He was " well pleased." 
Christ was never alone. " The Father was always 
with Him." " The Father dwelt in Him, and He 
lived by the Father." " The Father judged no 
man, but committed all judgment to the Son." 
Thus, at all times, and under all circumstances, 
Christ was not only theucsal, but visible object of 
the Father's love and delight. What higher glory 
could the Father confer upon Christ than this, 
while in his humiliation on earth ? 

4. The Father always heard Christ when Ho 
i pray ^rl. and always granted his requests. He could 

say with truth, " Father, I thank thee, that thou 
hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me 
always." This is another element of the glory 
which the Father conferred upon Christ. 

5. When Christ had " finished the work which 
the Father gave Him to do," as a reward of his 
obedience, " God also hath highly exalted Him, 

4 and given Him a name which is aboveeveTy name ; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth ; and that every tongue should con- 
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father." " All power in heaven and on 
earth was given unto Him." He was exalted 
to the throne of the universe, and the scepter 
of the universe the Father put into his hands. 
To be thus exalted by the Father in the presence 
of the universe is the last and crowning element 
of the glory which the Father conferred upon 
Christ. 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 119 

II. The glory which Christ has conferred upon 
his people. 

In the text it is declared to be identical with the 
glory which the Father conferred upon Christ. In 
what, then, does this glory consist % In general, I 
HWould say, that it consists in the believer being 
: introduced into a relation to Christ and to God 
I through Him, similar to that which Christ sustains 
ito the Father. For example : 

1. Christ has conferred upon believers the glory 
of representing Him to the world as He represents 
the Father. Christ appeared in the world, as the 
" image and glory of God." The believer is per- 
mitted to " behold as in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, and benT^ changed into the same image 
from glory to glory," to reflect the image and glory 
of Christ upon the suiromi3ing world. " God, who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ." As the mirror, when placed in the light 
of the glorious luminary of day, gives a reflection, 
full and distinct, of the image and glory of tjhesun, 
so God is here declared to shine in the heart of 
the believer, for the purpose of giving to the sons 
of men, through Him, a reflection of the " glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ." The privilege 
and the honor of sustaining such a relation to^ 
Christ, and to God through Him, is the glory which 
\ Christ has conferred upon believers. Christian, 
will you not dwell upon this thought, till you *e- 
_xeive its full impress in your heart J 

2. ChrilSnraTcmi^ the glory 

of carrying into accomplishment his^iuQ>oses of 
love and mercy toward lost men, just as there was 
conferred upon Him the glory of accomplishing 



120 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

those of the Father. " As thou hast sent me into 
the world, so have I sent them into the world." 
After laying the foundation for the salvation of 
sinners in the work of redemption, one thing further 
needed to be accomplished. This redemption must 

>/ be made known to the sons of men. The accom- 
plishment of this last work was as essential as the 
former to the salvation of our race. The glory of 
proclaiming to lost men the " unsearchable riches 
of Christ," He has conferred upon His people. In 
v its accomplishment, they are " the light of the 
world," as "He was the light of the work!?' This 
is the glory, Christian, which Christ has conferred 

>/ upon you, to be a " worker together with God," to 
be employed by Christ as his ambassador, as his 
minister, as He was employed by the Father, in 
the accomplishment of the purposes of infinite love 
and mercy toward lost men. 

3. Another element of the glory which Christ 
has conferred upon his people is this : the honor of 

% having Christ dwell in them as the Father dwelt 
in Him. rr TTn them, and thou in me." " We will 
come and make our abode with him." " Ye are 
the temples of the living God ; as God hath said, I 
will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be 
their God, and they shall be my people." "Know 
ye not that ye are the temple of God." As the 
Father dwelt in Christ, and as this was the highest 
honor which the Father could confer upon Him, 
so He has conferred this glory upon his people, 
making, together with every person of the sacred 
Trinity, his abode in them. This glory, Christian, 
Christ has conferred upon you. Christ could ask 
or desire no higher glory from the Father than 
this, that the Father should make his abode with 
Him. What higher glory can you conceive or de- 
sire of Christ, than that He should make his abode 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 121 

with you 1 Christ, when on earth, was never alone. 
The Father was always with Him. So, Christian, 
you need never he alone. Christ and the Father 
and the Holy Spirit may always he with you and 
in you, as the Father was with Christ, and in Christ. 
As Christ "lived by the Father," and as, through 
the Father's presence and love, his blessedness 
was always full, so you also may live by Christ, 
and through his presence and love, " your joy may 

be full." ,. . . . 

4 Christ has conferred upon his people the glory 
of having the same power with God in grayer, that 
He himself had. What a source of inconceivable 
dory and blessedness it must have been to Christ, 
to know in Himself, and to have it manifest to the 
world and to the universe, that the Father always\ 
heard Him and granted His requests when He • 
pra-ed ; The same glory and blessedness Christ 
has* conferred upon His people. Into the same 
relation to God in prayer, which He himself sus- 
tained, He has introduced them. " If ye abide in) 
/ me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
I ye will, and it shall be done unto you." What- 
soever ye shall ask the Father in my name He 
will ffive it you." "Ye have not chosen me, but 1 
have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye shou d 
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should 
remain; that whatsoever you should ask rt the 
Father in my name, He may give it you. It is 
I your privilege, Christian, not only to sustain such i 
arelationtoGodinprayer/buttohaveitmamfest , 

/ to the world and to the universe, that youTo sus- j 
tain that relation. This is the glory which Christy 

V has conferred upon you. 

5. Christ has conferred upon His people the 
honor of being exalted by Him to glory and bless- s 
edness, when they have accomplished His work on 
Li 



122 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

earth, as He was " highly exalted" by the Father 
when He had finished the work which the Father 
gave Him to do. " To him that overcometh will I 

| grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also 
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his 

' throne." 

Such is the glory which Christ has conferred 
upon His people. In all possible respects, He 
has identified them with Himself, conferring 
upon them what the Father has conferred upon 
Him. 

III. The design of this arrangement. lV^! 

1. One fundamental design is to produce a per- 
fect union_ and identity of feeling and object be- 

\ tween God anoTTTis^people. " That they all may 
be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee ; 
thatT"they also may be one in us." The Father 
d welli ng in Christ, and Christ in Him, produces a 

I perfect identity of feeling and object between the 
Father and Christ. Christ dwelling in His people y 
and they in Him, secures a similar union between 
God and them. To sejy^^jtWsjmxon is a funda- 
mental design of this arrangement. 

2. Another design, equally fundamental, is to 
produce a similar union amonSL fifa r ^ifiggj 0Tle to- 
ward another. "And the glory which thou gavest 
me, I have given them, that they may be one even 
as we are," that is, that the same union of senti- 

, ment, feeling, and object, may exist among them 
that exists between us. "I in them, and thou in 
me, that they be made perfect in one," that a 
union absolutely perfect may exist among believers 
one toward another. The Father dwelling in 
Christ, and Christ in His people, how perfectly 

1 adapted is this, not only to produce a perfect har- 
mony between every believer and God, but to 



GL0RY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 123 

render all believers one, as Christ and the Father 
are one. 

3. Another design of this arrangement is, to ren- 
der Christians the objects of the^m^Jc^e^njhe \S 
part of God, that Christ was, and to impress the 
worT^vitrT^ie conviction that believers are thus 
loved by God. Christ knew perfectly the value of 

his Father's love7 The desire of His heart was 
that all believers might become the objects of this / 
love. Hence, His object was to render their char- 
acter, their interests, and their relations to God, 
identical with His own. God would then lovej 
them as He loved Him, and He would so manifest \ 
His love to them that the world would know that 
He thus loves the believer. This was a funda- 
mental design of this arrangement. " The glory 
which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they 
may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and 
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; 
and that the world may know that thou hast sent 
me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." 

4. The last great design of this arrangement 
that I mention, is this — that under the convictions 
above referred to, the eWorld might be converted - 
to God. Christ saw that if the world couIa^Be 
convinced that He was "sent of God," and that all 
who believed in Him were loved of God, as He 
himself was, " all men would be drawn unto Him." 
He also saw that if believers could all be rendered 

j^eall y_and vis ibly one, as He and the Father were, 
and ltall Christians could thus become the objects 
of the same love from God that He was, the world V 
would believe on Him. Hence, to render believers 
one, as He and the Father are one, He conferred 
upon them the glory which the Father had given 
Him. To render them "perfect in one," He con- 
descends to dwell in them as the Father dwelt in 



124 



THE TRUE BELIEVER. 



Him. Thus the Father would love them as He 
loved Christ ; and the world, beholding such a glo- 
i rious reflection of the beauty and value of holiness, 
all rasultingjfcom a union to Christ by faith, would 
also believe in Him. 

IV. The state to wliich believers must attain to 
possess this glory. 

In general, I would say, that they must possess 
a perfect identity of character, feeling, and object 
with Christ. They must, in ail H 4^ssible ^e s pej cIs_. 
be brought into the same relations to God vvhich 
Christ sustained. Nothing but a perfect image of 
an object can fully represent that object. * The be- 
liever, to represent Christ, to be loved of the 
Father, as Christ was, and to convince the world 
that be is the object of that love, must be changed 
into the very image of Christ. For example : 

1. He must be entirely free from sin, and become 
purely and perfectly holy. Such was Christ — " He 
knew no sin.' , " He was holy, harmless, undefiled, 
and separate from sinners." To represent such 
a being, we must be free from sin as He was. We 
must be " holy, harmless, and undefiled" as He 
was. We must be separate from the world, as 
Christ was separate from the world. In no other 
state also can the Father love us as He loved 
Christ. 

2. We must be supremely consecrated to the ' 
duties of our sacred calling — the glory of Christ in 
the salvation of men. All interests and all pursuits 
must be wholly subordinated to this one end. 
Christ, when on earth, had no honors to acquire, 
no treasures to amass, no unhallowed propensities 
to gratify. He came into the world, not to do His 
own will, but the 4 will of Him that sent Him. " He 
sought not His own glory, but the glory of Him 






GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 125 

that sent Him." From this great work He was 
never for a moment drawn aside by the allure- 
ments of the world, the flesh, or the devil. How, 
Christian, can you give to the world a representa- 
tion of the character, spirit, and life of such a being] 
Only by being in the world as He was in the world. 
Only by being as ardently, as constantly, and as 
supremely devoted to his work, as He was to the 
work of the Father. 

3. Believers, to possess the glory which Christ 
has conferred upon them, must have great power 
in prayer. Christ, as we have seen, was always 
beard when He prayed. The believer, when he 
approaches the throne of grace, stands there and 
presents his petitions in the name of Christ. Un- 
der such circumstances, he really represents his 
Savior. He is bound, therefore, to appear there 
in such a spirit, and to present his petitions in the j 
exercise of such faith in the efficacy of Christ's 
name, that God shall hear him always, as He did 
Christ. " As a prince, he must have power with 
God, and with men." You have no right, Chris- 
tian, to approach that sacred spot, and go empty 
away. You are bound always to leave it with that 
fullness of joy which Christ received in the same 
circumstances. Else you misrepresent your Savior. 
You reject the glory which Christ has conferred ; 
upon you. 

4. Christians, to possess this glory, must be uni- 
ted among themselves in the bonds of pure and 
perfect love. The union which they are called 
upon to represent in their mutual harmony and. 
love one toward another, is the union and love ex- 
isting between the Father and the Son. How can 
believers, in their intercourse one with another, 
represent such a union as this ] Only by becom- 
ing one, as Christ and the Father are one. 

l2 



126 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

5. Christians, to possess this glory, must mani- 
fest, in all their intercourse with each other, and 
with the world, a spirit of condescension. The 
infinite condescension of God in the worE of re- 
demption they are to represent to the world. The 
glory of doing this, Christ has conferred upon them. 

VTo accomplish this object, they must not " mind 
[high things, but condescend to men of low estate." 
[Instead of aiming to lift themselves above others, 
(they must be imitators of God, by descending to 
Ithose beneath them, for the purpose of elevating 
such to the light and blessedness which they enjoy. 
" The Spirit of the Lord God" must be upon them 
as it was upon Christ. Like Him they must be 
anointed of God, " to preach good tidings to the 
meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim 
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the ac- 
ceptable year of the Lord, and to comfort all that 
mourn." 

6. If we would possess this glory, all our inter- 
course with our neighbor, and especially our bust- 

(ness transactions with him, must be a pure exem- 
plification of the great law of love. Such was 
Christ. Such must we be, if we would enjoy the 
glory of representing Him. 

7. Once more, to possess this glory, we must be 
so perfectly satisfied with the inheritance which 
Christ has conferred upon us, and blessed in it, that 
we shall be perfectly contented and* pleased with 

* a_ll the allotments of Divine Providence. Christ, 
when on earth, could say, " The foxes have holes, 
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of 
man hath not where to lay his head." Yet He was 
perfectly satisfied with his condition, and blessed 
in it; because that in it He could manifest the glory 
and love of God to the world and to the universe. 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 127 

To hang upon the cross was a joy to Him; because 
that in so doing He could " glorify his Father on 
the earth, and finish the work He had given Him \ 
to do." Such must be your spirit, Christian, if 
you would possess the glory which Christ has con- 
ferred upon you. 

V. How may we attain this state, and conse- 
quently possess the glory which Christ has conferred 
ujpon us ? 

Here let me request you, reader, as a condition 
of attaining this state — 

1. To stop a moment and consider what this 
glory is which Christ has conferred upon you. 

" The glory which thou hast given me, I have 4 
given them." Have you ever apprehended the 
real meaning of these words 1 Have you consid- 
ered what it is to behold with open face, as in a 
glass, the glory of the Lord till you are changed 
into the same image from glory to glory, and then 
to reflect that image upon the surrounding world ] — 
what it is to be sent forth as the minister of Christ, 
as the light of the world, to carry into accomplish- 
ment the purposes of infinite love and mercy in the 
plan of redemption 1 — what it is to have Christ 
dwell in you as the Father dwells in Him ] — what 
it is to have the same power in prayer that 
He had 1 — to be loved of God as He was, and to 
sit down at last with Him on his throne, even as 
He is now* seated with his Father on his throne? 
O that your mind might take full possession of the 
idea. 

2. You must admit it as a reality to your own 
mind, that all this glory and blessedness may be 
yours as soon airTgrr^n ^v^'^ i ^^to receive it. 
Christ has purchased it for you, and now proffers 
it to you as a free gift, without money and without 



i 



I 



128 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

price. "Will you admit that the purchase is real, 
and the offer sincere ? Will you permit the truth 
to come home to your heart, that this glory may be 
yours, and yours now ? 

3. In the sincerity of your heart, as under the 
eye of your God and Savior, you must choose this 
blessing as your great inheritance. Stop, reader, 
for a moment, and ask yourself, What do I now de- 
sire of the Lord ] Can you say, in the depth of 
your soul, " Lord, thou knowest all things, thou 
knowest" that I now prefer above all objects in 
existence, and choose, as my great inheritance, the 
glory which Christ proffers to me % 

4. Then, in the sincerity of your heart, too, 
make a full, and final, and solemn relinquish- 
ment of all things else, of property, reputation, 
kindred, friends, and life itself, for this inheritance 
of glory. Reader, are you ready to make the 
sacrifice ] 

5. With a fixed, strong, and unwavering faith, 
look directly to Clnisj; to bestow upon you this 
glory. Hang upon Him till He responds, "Ac- 
cording to thy faith, be it unto thee." 

6. In the exercise of the same faith, enter upon 
the diligent and prayerful study of the Bible, seek 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and commence the 
discharge of every duty for the single, .purpose of 
giving, in all the relations of life, a reflection of the 
" light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ." If you will do this, reader, 
as the Lord liveth, the glory which Christ has 
given to all his people shall be yours. " So also 
an entrance shall He administer to you abundantly 
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Sav- 
ior Jesus Christ," where you shall " shine as the 
brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for- 
ever and ever." 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 129 

VI. The consequences ivhich vjould result, should 
believers make such attainments, and possess the glory 
which Christ has conferred upon them. 

The space proper for me to occupy will permit 
only a bare specification of the following. 

1. The world would then obtain full and distinct 
apprehensions of the real character of God. Men 
will not now search for God, and consequently will 
not find Him in his works nor in his word ; be- 
cause " they do not like A retain God in their 
knowledge." But when " the lis:ht of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ" is reflected upon them, through the char- 
acter and life of believers, the world will and must 
know God as He is. 

2. The world would then know what true reli- 
gion is. Mankind in general are as ignorant of 
the real nature of Christianity as they are of God, 
and for the same reason. In this state of darkness 
and ignorance they will remain until they learn 
what Christianity is through " living epistles known 
and read of all men." 

3. The world would then know and appreciate 
the beauty and value of religion. In the light of 
the purity of believers, and the beauty of holiness 
as reflected in their lives, sinners will also clearly 
see their own deep depravity, guilt, and bondage 
under the power of sin. In the light of the be- 
liever's peace and blessedness, they will be ren- 
dered deeply sensible of their own wretchedness. 
Hence, 

4. The last and great excuse of the sinner for 
continuance in sin, the life and example of profess- 
ing Christians, will be wrested from him. Their 
actual holiness will be a reality to his mind. He 
will of course feel that he has no excuse for not be- 



130 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ing holy himself. All the motives of the gospel 7 
the value of religion, the vanity and folly of all 
opposite pursuits, heaven, hell, Christ, God, the 
judgment, and eternity, will exert their full and 
appropriate influence upon his mind. Conse- 
quently, 

5. The world would be converted to Christ. 
11 Christ would then be lifted up." Of course " He 
would draw all men unto Him." " Darkness shall 
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people ; 
but the Lord shall rise upon Zion, and his glory 
shall be seen upon her. And the Gentiles shall 
come to her light, and kings to the brightness of 
her rising." God's people being one, as Christ 
and the Father are one, the world will believe in 
Christ, and will u turn from dead works to serve 
the living God." Christian, the salvation of the 
world depends upon your taking possession of the 
glory which Christ has given you. 

REMARKS. 

1. In view of this subject we may understand in 
what sense real Christians are the " light of the 
world." They have no light in themselves. The 
light which they shed upon the darkness around, is 
w r holly a borrowed, a reflected light. Suppose a 
company of individuals to be shut up in a dark 
room, a room into which not a single ray of the 
sun's light can directly penetrate. Suppose that a 
number of mirrors are so placed as to convey into 
that room the full image of the sun, and consequent- 
ly render all within perfectly luminous. These 
mirrors are the light of that room. Yet the light 
which they convey is not from themselves. It is 
exclusively a reflected light. So the Christian is 
the " light of the world" only by receiving into his 
own heart the " light of the knowledge of the glory 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 131 

of God, in the face of Jesus Christ," and then re- 
flecting the image of Christ upon the surrounding 
world, 

2. We have also in the light of this subject an 
appropriate and decisive Jtej^£jQhnstiajo^^ 
ter. Every real Christian has been, by the grace 
of God, changed into the image of Christ. That 
imao-e he reflects upon the world around him, and 
in its reflection he conveys a real "knowledge of 
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
Every person who beholds him, and marks his 
6pirit and manner of life, will learn what are the 
spirit and character of Jesus Christ, and what is the 
nature of true religion. Now the great question 
with you, reader, is this : What impression does 
your spirit, character, and manner of life make upon 
the world around you 1 I do not ask you whether 
you ever sin ] But whether your deportment be- 
fore the world is such a reflection of the image of 
Christ, that all who know you, know, through you, 
the spirit and character of Christ, and the nature 
of true religion % If so, you are a Christian. If 
not, you are not a Christian. 

3. We have, in the light of this subject, a distinct 
apprehension of the relations which Christians sus- 
tain to Christ in this world, and in etcrriiiy. In this 
life the Christian reflects the image of Christ, as 
He appeared in his humiliation upon earth. In 
eternity he will, in a similar manner, reflect the 
image of Christ in his exaltation to glory and bless- \ 
edness at the right hand of the Father. He now, 
|o use the language of inspiration by way of accom- 
modation, " bears the image of the earthly." Then 
he will " bear the image of the heavenly." It is by 
bearing the image of the earthly, that we are pre- 
pared to bear the image of the heavenly. ^ 

4. The nature of entire sanctification in this life, / 



132 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

may now be distinctly stated. It tfocs not imply a 
likeness to Christ in his present exaltation to^lory 
and blessedness. In this respect, no Christian " at- 
tains, nor is perfect" in this life. It implies, on the 
JU other hand, a perfect likeness to Christ, as His imago 
i j is reflected in his humiliation on earth. In both 
states, and in both senses, entire sanctification is 
obtained in the same way. In eternity the Chris- 
tian " fiees Christ as h ejs : " that is, beholds His glory 
as it is reflected from the eternal throne, and is thus 
rendered " like Him ." In this life, he " beholds 
with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord;" 
that is, the image of Christ as reflected in his hu- 
miliation on earth , and " is changed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord." To be "in the world as Christ w, 
the world," is entire present sanctification. To"~sec 
Christ as He is," and consequently be rendered like 
Hindis the entire sanctification to which saints ttft- 
tainlmj3tcrnity. 

5. We are now prepared to answer the question, 
whether the believer may properly indulge the 
-sexpectation of attaining to a state of entire sanctifi- 
cation in this life ] If he may properly indulge the 
expectation of possessing the glory which Christ 
has conferred upon him, he certainly may with 
I equal propriety indulge the expectation of attain- 
ing this state. Because the former, as we have 
seen, in the body of this discourse, can not be with- 
out the latter. Now if we can not properly indulge 
the expectation of enjoying the glory referred to, 
the declaration of Christ, " The glory which thou 
hast given me, I have given them," is the most 
solemn mockery conceivable. To bestow a gift, ', 
and then require us to believe we shall not possess j 
it, or to proffer it upon conditions with which we 
are required to believe we shall never comply — / 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 133 

what is this but to mock our misery, and also to 
take the most effectual means conceivable to in- 
crease that misery. The individual who cherishes 
the sentiment that Christ has done this (and every 
one who denies the doctrine of entire sanctification 
does so), does fearful wrong to his own soul. He 
draws such a veil over the divine glory as renders 
it impossible for him to love God with the deep 
and melting tenderness with which he is required 
to love Him. 

6. The sentiment, that if a Christian were entirely 
sanctified, Christ would take him to heaven at once, 
here demands a passing notice. Christians are con- 
tinued here by Christ as the light of the world, as 
mirrors to illumine the " darkness that covers the 
earth, and the gross darkness that covers the peo- 
ple," by reflecting all abroad his own image. Ac- 
cording to this sentiment, the moment Christ has 
so sanctified one of his people, that he will give the 
world a perfect reflection of His image — that is, 
fully answer the end of his sacred calling and the 
wants of fallen humanity, He will remove him to 
another sphere. Christ then is unwilling to have 
his own image so reflected in this world, " as to 
draw all men unto Him." Reader, where did you 
learn the sentiment that perfect conformity to the 
will of God, and consequently to the laws of your 
own being, would kill you 'i Did you learn it from 
the Bible I 

7. "We see what it is that hinders the conver- 
sion of this world. It is the condition of the church. 
Instead of being " one, as Christ and the Father are 
one," what fearful discord and strife reign through- 
out all her borders. Instead of being " holy, harm- 
less, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and thus 
giving the world a pure and hallowed reflection of 
the image and glory of Christ, and of the beauty of 
M 



134 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

holiness, the character of Christ, and the nature of 
His gospel, as exhibited in her example, are pre- 
sented to the world in a deep and dark eclipse. As 
long as this state of things shall continue, alas for 
this sin-ruined world. The church will never be- 
come to the powers of darkness "terrible as an en- 
emy with banners," till in the beauty of holiness 
she shines forth " fair as the moon, and clear as the 
sun." Holiness is the secret of herrjower. The 
want oflt is the sole cause of her present weakness 
and inefficiency. This alone retards the progress 
of salvation upon earth. 

8. We see why it is that Christ was so perfectly 
satisfied with all the pains, hardships, and self- 
denials, attendant on His humiliation on earth. 

I These things were contemplated by Him as a 
I means indispensable to one end — the accomplish- 
' ment of the " work which his Father gave Him 
to do." In no other way could He finish the 
work of redemption, and give the world and the 
universe a representation of God as He is. Hence 
the endurance of all these was a blessedness to 
Him. 

9. We may also understand the grand secret of 
perfect contentmen t with all the allotments of Di- 
vine P rovFdenceTeven the most afflictive. Let our 

I hearts be as perfectly set upon finishing the work 
/ which Christ has sent us to accomplish (and why 
should they not?), as His was upon "finishing that 
which the Father had given Him to do." Let us 
contemplate every allotment of Providence, and 
especially the most afflictive, as an important point 
of observation, from which we are required to give 
the world a reflection of the image of Christ. Then, 
like Paul, we shall " take pleasure in infirmities, in 
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's 
sake." We shall learn, in " whatever state we are, 



GLORY CONFERRED UPON THE BELIEVER. 135 

therewith to be content ;" for our very contentment 
is a reflection of Christ. .. 

10. We see also how to harmonize all divisions 
and discord* among Christians. Let each of the par- 
ties saxnsaH^aTrrf to give to the other a pure reflec- 
tion of the Spirit of Christ, to be just as forbear- 
ing, just aTlbTgtving, and just as faithful in reproof, 
as they think He would be, under the same circum- 
stances. Let this spirit pervade the church, and 
how soon would all sincere Christians become one. 
Every conceivable difficulty would be perfectly har- 
monized by the mutual application of this simple 
principle. 

11. We also perceive the duty devolved upon 
each party under the circumstances supposed, what- 
ever may be the conduct of the other. It is, to be 
just as forbearing, just as forgiving, and just as 
stern in your reproof, as, after seeking wisdom from 
above, you think Christ would be in your circum- 
stances. Then, reader, you will render full obe- 
dience to the command, " As much as lieth in you, 
live peaceably with all men." HowThany individ- 
uals, when they receive injuries, real or imaginary, 
seem to feel that they are now at liberty to indulge 
any spirit, and to pursue any course of conduct 
they please, in return. Why, the man has greatly 
injured me in my person, property, or reputation. 
Admit it, my brother. But does this circumstance 
permit you to indulge unchristian feelings, or to 
pursue an unchristian course of conduct toward 
the injurer ? " That dearest of books that excels 
every other," tells me that Christ, " when He was 
reviled, reviled not again ; that when He was per- 
secuted, He threatened not." That same blessed 
book also tells me that in these, as well as in all 
other circumstances, we are to " walk as Christ; 
walled.". Reader, will you not carryiEs^svFeet 



136 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

thought everywhere with you, and let it hallow all 
your feelings, control your whole conduct, and 
harmonize your entire character with the image 
of Christ % 

12. In the light of this subject we see how to 
determine our duty in every variety of condition 

\ in which we maylTS placed. We shall seldom be 
at a loss, in any circumstances, to determine how 
Christ would feel and act in the same circum- 
stances. Now, if our eye is single to this one 
inquiry, How would Christ feel and act, were He 

/ in the same condition that we are ? — duty will 
always be to us as visible objects are, when the 
"bright shining of a candle doth give us light. " 

13. A passing remark in regard to the prospects 
and condition of the sinner is demanded, before 
the discourse is closed. ^The alternative is now 

! submitted to you, to assimilate your character to 
that of Christ, or to that of the world. Hitherto 
you have chosen to bear the image of the world. 
As a consequence, your character has been receiv- 
ing a rapid assimilation to all that is impure and 
unholy in the universe. Soon, if you persevere, the 
image will be complete. The last touch will be 
given to it, and then God will take that soul of 
yours, and place it amid the eternal horrors to 
which you have adapted its character. Now the 
dark image of earth may be erased from your heart 
and character, and the image of Christ delineated 
in its stead. But remember, soon this blessed priv- 
ilege will be withdrawn forever. For the universe, 
I would not bear the image of earth for a single 
hour. "Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, 
now is the day of salvation." 



SERMON VII. 

TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow 
shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the 
day is the evil thereof. — Mat., vi., 34. 

In the preceding part of the Sermon on the 
Mount, the Savior had advanced many new, and, 
to his hearers, unheard-of principles of action — 
principles directly opposed to all the maxims by 
which they had been accustomed to supply their 
necessities, and regulate their deportment before 
the world. Instead of hating, they were to love 
their enemies, even the most imbittered. They 
were to do good, not merely to the righteous and 
the grateful, but to the "evil and unthankful." To 
those who asked of them, they were to give ; not 
merely what was asked, but, if possible, even more. 
To those who would borrow of them they were to 
lend, "hoping for nothing" in return. In short, 
they were to live, not to themselves, but for God, 
and for humanity. To these ends their whole be- 
ing was to be devoted. 

Under such circumstances, questions like these 
would naturally suggest themselves to the disci- 
ples : How can we live in conformity with such 
principles, and acquire the necessaries of life 1 
How can we make it our supreme object to lay up 
for ourselves treasures, not on the earth, but in 
heaven — how can we " seek first the kingdom of 
God, and its righteousness" — how can we conform 
m2 



138 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

all our transactions with men to the law of love, 
regarding rather the rights, and interests, and de- 
sires of our neighbor than our own, and obtain 
food to nourish, and raiment to clothe and adorn 
our bodies ] 

These and similar questions the Savior answers, 
by requiring his disciples to dismiss, at once and 
forever, all anxiety about their future temporal 
necessities, all solicitude about the bearing of duty 
upon such subjects. The reasons which he assigns 
for such requisitions are the following : 

1. The concerns of the soul are of vastly greater 
importance, and such solicitude will jeopardize its 
immortal interests. " Is not the life more than 
meat, and the body than raiment ]" " Ye can not 
serve God and Mammon." 

2. God " clothes the grass of the field,' ' and 
" feeds the fowls of heaven/' without any anxiety 
about the future on their part. Why then should 
redeemed sinners distrust his paternal providence I 
" Behold the fowls of the air ; for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet 
your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not 
much better than they 1" u And why take ye 
thought for raiment ] Consider the lilies of the field, 
how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin ; 
and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his 
glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Where- 
fore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall 
He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith V 9 

3. Such solicitude is wholly useless. It is a total 
waste of thought and feeling. It can add not a par- 
ticle to the strength, beauty, or height of our per- 
sons, nor supply a solitary necessity of our nature. 
" Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cu- 
bit to his stature V 9 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 139 

4. This is the spirit of worldly men, " men who 
have their portion in this life." The indulgence 
of such a spirit will separate the soul from God. 
" After all these things do the Gentiles seek." 

5. God, their Father in heaven, was fully aware 
that they needed all such things, not only as crea- 
tures, but in the prosecution of the great work to 
which He had called them. They might, therefore, 
quietly rest in the peaceful assurance that no real 
want of theirs would be left unsupplied. 

6. God's word was pledged that implicit obedi- 
ence to His will should be followed, as a certain con- 
sequence, with a full supply of all their necessities. 
" Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his right- 
eousness ; and all these things shall be added unto 
you." 

7. They could, always have free access to the 
throne of grace, where they " could ask, and receive, 
till their joy was full." "Every one that asketh 
receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him 
that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is 
there of you, whom, if his son ask bread, will he 
give him a stone V 

8. Finally, the cares and duties of the present 
moment are abundantly sufficient to occupy our en^ 
tire solicitude, without dividing it between the pres- 
ent and the future. " Sufficient unto the day is the 
evil thereof." 

Such are the reasons upon which the Savior bases 
the command, " Take no thought for the morrow." 
The original word here rendered " take thought," 
designates a doubting, anxious, fearful, and per- 
turbed state of mind in regard to the future. Such 
also was the meaning of the phrase, "take 
thought," when our Scriptures were translated. 
A cotemporary historian says of a certain indi- 
vidual, " His heart was broken, and so for thought 



140 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

[anxious care, or intense mental perturbation] he 
died." 

We are not, of course, prohibited thinking about, 
or making provision for the future. But all anx- 
ious solicitude about the result of our efforts to se- 
cure that end, and about the dispensations of Provi- 
dence bearing upon it, is prohibited. To give the 
reader a distinct apprehension of the state of mind 
forbidden in the text, take a single example — the 
visit of Christ to the house of Martha — Luke x., 
38-42. As soon as Christ entered, she set her 
heart upon providing a sumptuous entertainment 
for her divine guest. About the accomplishment 
of this object she " took thought," and her mind 
was soon filled with care, doubt, and perplexity. 
Her thoughts, we may suppose, first turned upon 
the guest-chamber. Every thing there must wear 
the aspect of perfect neatness and order. Yet, in 
her disquietude, every thing appeared the reverse 
of what it ought to be. Such and such things, were 
in disorder. Such and such articles were soiled* 
What would the Savior and his disciples think when 
they should see things thus % Then every thing upon 
the table must be prepared in the best style, and 
nothing be wanting to perfect the sumptuousness 
of the feast. But such and such articles, needful 
to render the entertainment what it should be, were 
wanting, and could not be obtained. Then, of 
those that were provided, some were very imperfect 
in richness and flavor; others might be injured in 
preparation, and the remainder might not be got 
in readiness in time. Almost every thing seemed 
to be going wrong, and all her efforts to do appro- 
priate service to her divine guest appeared likely 
to prove abortive. Thus " she was cumbered about 
much serving," and while Mary was peacefully 
" sitting at the Savior's feet, hearing his words," 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 141 

Martha's feelings (the natural result of her perturb- 
ed state of mind) kindled into displeasure against 
her sister, and even against Christ himself, for per- 
mitting her thus to neglect her domestic concerns. 

With these feelings Martha came to Christ and 
said, " Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath 
left me to serve alone ] Bid her, therefore, that 
she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto 
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled 
about many things ; but one thing is needful : and 
Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not 
be taken away from her." 

How many persons are almost constantly in a 
state similar to that above described, in respect to 
their property, their business transactions, their 
reputation, their health, the interests and prospects 
of their children or families, the arrangements and 
dispensations of Providence, and every thing which 
deeply engrosses their feelings. 

While on a journey, some years since, I fell in 
company with a Christian brother, who was going 
to the same place with myself. Providential occur- 
rences, which we could neither foresee nor prevent, 
occasioned, at a particular point, a long and (to a 
worldly mind) painful delay. When we had again 
got under way, the question whether we should 
meet another hinderance equally long and painful, 
depended on our reaching a certain place at a given 
time. About this that brother " took thought.'' 
His mind, during the day, was in continual pertur- 
bation. His family were out of health, and he had 
promised to be at home at a given period. His 
business, too, required him to return at the earliest 
possible moment. Will not the boat have left be- 
fore our arrival ] Driver, can you not push us 
forward with greater rapidity ] 

My own concerns were probably as pressing as 



142 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

those of that brother. Having, however, done all 
that I could to secure an arrival at the proper time, 
I had found grace to resign the whole subject with 
entire quietness to the will of God; and my mind 
was floating as peacefully along the current of 
Providence, as if conscious that all had been ar- 
ranged in conformity to my will. So sweet and 
hallowed was the presence of Christ during the 
day, that I often had to cover my face, and weep 
for joy of heart. 

We arrived some hours before the boat started. 
I then sat down with the brother, and endeavored 
to convince him not only of the folly and useless- 
ness of the state of mind above described, but of 
its great ivickcdjiess in the sight of God. 

A brother in the ministry had for some time ex- 
perienced symptoms of declining health. On this 
subject he " took thought." His countenance wore 
the aspect of deep pensiveness, anxiety, and gloom. 
The solicitude and agitation of his mind would be 
rendered agonizing, if even a child should suggest 
to him that he seemed to be out of health. What 
a total stranger was that brother to the blessedness 
of the Apostle, who, through the grace of Christ, 
" had learned in whatever state he was, therewith 
to be content/' " Blessed be God, even the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, 
and the God of all comfort ; who comforteth us 
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to com- 
fort them which are in any trouble, by the com- 
fort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
God." 

The individual who does not find the gospel an 
unfailing source of consolation, in every condition 
in life, can not, with the full assurance of faith and 
hope, present that gospel as a source of consola- 
tion to any person in any condition. Such an in- 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 143 

dividual is totally disqualified for the discharge of 
the duties of the sacred office. 

A mother, as she looked out at her window, saw 
a little child in the garden having hold of a small 
but valuable fruit-tree, which it might injure or de- 
stroy. The injury, if done, would be consummated 
before it was practicable for the mother to caution 
her child. " There," exclaimed the agonized moth- 
er, " the child has got hold of that tree ! She will 
very probably ruin it !" The child passed on, how- 
ever, and left the tree, as the mother might reason- 
ably have supposed, uninjured. Yet the mother 
suffered more, from simple apprehension, than she 
ought to have endured from the actual loss of a 
hundred such trees. 

Soon after the mother looked again, and saw the 
same child returning from the house of a neighbor, 
while the heavens were blackened with an ap- 
proaching tempest, which had unexpectedly risen. 
Now, instead of peacefully commending the child 
to the divine protection, the apprehensions of the 
mother took a new direction. Certainly the storm 
would descend before the child could be got home! 
Its constitution was so delicate, that, if it should be 
overtaken by the storm, its health would be im- 
paired and its life endangered ! Some time before 
the descent of the rain the child was safe beneath the 
paternal roof, and the mother, after suffering incom- 
parably more than she ought to have endured, had 
the apprehended calamity actually occurred, found 
that she had been " disquieted in vain." In that 
disquietude, however, she had been wholly unfitted 
for prayer for her child, or any other object, or for 
the discharge of any duty in which the sustaining 
grace of the gospel would have been manifested. 

Reader, have not the facts above stated opened 
up an important page in your past history ? If so, 



144 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

you are now prepared for a consideration of the 
great truth to be illustrated in this discourse, which 
is this : — 

Obedience to God is the supreme business 
of life all, about which it is lawful for us 

TO " TAKE THOUGHT." In OBEYING GoD, IT IS OUB 
DUTY AND PRIVILEGE TO DISMISS WHOLLY ALL ANX- 
IETY ABOUT CONSEQUENCES ; ESPECIALLY IN REGARD 
TO WORLDLY, TEMPORAL OBJECTS. 

The reader doubtless recollects the answer given 
by the shepherd of Salisbury Plain to the question 
of a traveler, "What sort of weather he thought 
it would be on the morrow V s " It will be such 
weather as pleases me," answered the shepherd. 
Though the answer was delivered in the most mild 
and civil tone that could be imagined, the gentle- 
man thought the words themselves rather rude and 
surly, and asked him how that could be. " Be- 
cause," replied the shepherd, "it will be such 
weather as pleases God, and whatever pleases Him 
always pleases me." 

The principle that I maintain is, that it is our 
duty and privilege to be continually in this resign- 
ed, confiding, and peaceful state of mind, under 
all circumstances, and in reference to all interests 
and events, especially such as have a bearing upon 
our worldly condition. 

1. Our profession as Christians, together with 
our acknowledged relations to God, requires this of 
us, and prohibits, as most unbecoming in us, and 
most dishonorable to God, every other and oppo- 
site state of mind. What relations do we, as Chris- 
tians, sustain to God, to all His works and attri- 
butes, and to all the resources of His infinity ? 
" Behold, what manner of love the Father hath 
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 145 

sons of God !" As children, we recognize our- 
selves as "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus 
Christ.' ' " God is our shield, and our exceeding 
great reward." "All things are ours; whether 
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, 
or death, or things present, or things to come ; all 
are ours ; and we are Christ's ; and Christ is God's." 
God has pledged His word to us, that " no evil 
shall befall us, neither shall any plague come nigh 
our dwelling." We believe that " all things are 
working together for our good," and that " these 
light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are 
working out for us a far more exceeding and eter- 
nal weight of glory." 

Now, does it become individuals holding such 
truths, possessing such interests, and sustaining 
such relations to the perfections and heart of God, 
to be " careful and troubled about many things V* 
Ought not our minds ever to be as free from care- 
fulness, as heaven's atmosphere is from darkness 
and clouds ] How unbecoming in us, how dishonor- 
able to the sacred name by which we are called, 
is the opposite state of mind ? 

2. Our minds can not possibly be harassed with 
doubt, care, and perplexity, but from one cause — 
the absence of faith in God, and the presence of 
unbelief in the heart. While our minds are " stayed 
on God," He has pledged His truth that He "will 
keep us in perfect peace." " As the mountains 
are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round 
about his people, from henceforth even forever." 
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
help in trouble." M When we pass through the 
waters, He will be with us; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow us. When we walk through 
the fire, we shall not be burned ; neither shall the 
flame kindle upon us." When we believe all this, 
N 



146 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

and rest in it as a reality, we can not " fear, though 
the earth be removed, and though the mountains 
be carried into the midst of the sea ; though the 
waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the 
mountains shake with the swelling thereof.' ' Noth- 
ing but unbelief can make room for fear in our 
hearts, at any time and under any circumstances. 
What right have we to " stagger at the promises 
of God through unbelief]" 

3. Another consideration which demonstrates 
the sinfulness of almost every species of careful- 
ness in respect to worldly prospects, is this : such 
solicitude very seldom if ever respects the necessi- 
ties, but what may be called the luxuries of life. 
Reader, were you ever in circumstances in which 
you really felt apprehensive that you would perish, 
or very long or severely suffer from hunger, cold, 
or nakedness ] " You have food and raiment," 
with no fear of not possessing them while you live. 
With these, what right have you not to be content ? 
How sinful is that state in which, having these, you 
are " careful and troubled about many things." 
Where is your heart, and, consequently, your treas- 
ure, when in such a state ] 

4. But let us suppose a Christian placed in cir- 
cumstances, where, in obeying some one, the least 
important, if you please, of all the principles of 
the gospel, he is necessitated to sacrifice his entire 
prospects of worldly good. If he obeys, he must, 
like Paul, " suffer the loss of all things." Three 
important questions here arise: Shall he, by an 
adherence to truth and duty, make the sacrifice ! 
If so, with what spirit shall he make it ] Shall it 
be done reluctantly, or with all joyfulness? I an- 
swer, he must not only make the sacrifice, but 
regard it as a privilege that he is permitted thus to 
suffer for the name of Christ. Reader, you are 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 147 

not a Christian, unless every individual principle 
and truth of the gospel is held in such estimation 
by you, that you would readily part with all worldly 
goods and prospects, in its reception, defense, and 
practical exemplification. 

Let us now conceive a Christian placed in the 
circumstances supposed. The following consider- 
ations will show how, and with what spirit, it be- 
comes him then to act. 

(1.) In the providence of God a crisis has come, 
in which it is necessary that one of his children 
should make that sacrifice in defense of that truth 
or principle. The glory of God, and the interest 
of truth and righteousness, require it at his hands. 
God and the gospel of His grace will be more 
highly honored by obedience here than by ten 
thousand similar acts under ordinary circumstances. 
Shall a redeemed sinner, a man that calls himself 
a Christian, fail to meet such a crisis, and to meet 
it joyfully ? Shall he be " careful and troubled' ' 
about the sacrifices which obedience shall cost 
him 1 God forbid. No, Christian, the pearl of 
great price, in the exigency in which God has 
placed you, is now before you. " For joy thereof, 
go, sell all that you have, and buy it." Remember 
that whether you are called to make such sacrifices 
or not, such must be the esteem in which every 
truth and principle of the gospel is actually held 
by you, or you can never obtain that pearl. 

(2.) An opportunity is now presented to disclose 
to the world the highest and brightest possible ex- 
hibition and evidence of Christian character. If he 
obeys, the world will see that he serves God from 
principle, and not from interest. By prompt, de- 
cisive, and cheerful obedience at such a time, he 
may give the world a more distinct and impressive 
exhibition of what the spirit of true Christianity is, 



148 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

than by a whole life of obedience in ordinary cir- 
cumstances. What if he should fail at such a crisis ? 
He can never repair the injury he has done to the 
cause of Christ. He can never make up the good 
which he would have accomplished, had he stood 
faithful at that one moment. Christian, where 
duty manifestly jeopardizes your reputation, your 
property, your worldly prospects, then is the time, 
by prompt and peaceful obedience, to show the 
world what Christianity is. 

(3.) The blessedness, direct and indirect, imme- 
diate and remote, consequent on obedience, infi- 
nitely surpasses all the evils which may or can re- 
sult from such obedience. In one scale there are 
a few " light afflictions which are but for a moment." 
In the other, much greater present blessedness than 
could result from disobedience, and a " far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory" hereafter. 
With what feelings ought a Christian to make sac- 
rifices for truth and righteousness under such cir- 
cumstances ] 

(4.) The evils of disobedience infinitely surpass, 
under all circumstances, the advantages which can 
result from such disobedience. If, for any worldly 
considerations whatever, you trample upon the least 
of God's commandments, you " deny Christ be- 
fore men/' and consequently subject yourself to 
the denunciation, " him also will I deny before my 
Father and his holy angels." What evil is so great 
as this 1 What temporary advantages can balance 
such evils ] 

(5.) Contemplate also the spirit of worldly men. 
When the King of Persia was pouring his armies 
upon the plains of Greece, the states, assembled in 
council, resolved, that to arouse the patriotism of 
the nation, by a public exhibition of the spirit 
which, at such a crisis, ought to animate every bo- 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 149 

som, one of their most distinguished sovereigns, to- 
gether with a small but chosen band of followers, 
must meet the enemy at a given place, and there 
die. The present exigency was judged to be of 
such importance as to demand such a sacrifice. 
The King of Sparta was selected as the victim. 
At the straits of Thermopylae, with three hundred 
associates, he met the enemy, and died accord- 
ingly. Nor did he and his chosen band do it re- 
luctantly ; they did it with all joyfulness. The very 
night on which they were to die, before they went 
forth to the sacrifice, they celebrated a joyful feast 
together, and then met death as a privilege. Now, 
what was Thermopylae, what was all Greece, when 
weighed in the balance against a single principle 
or truth of the gospel ? And shall a Christian be 
less ready to sacrifice all that he has for infinite, 
than men of the world for finite objects'? 

" Take a company of grenadiers," said a French 
general to a subordinate officer, M and repel the ap- 
proach of the enemy at such a pass. You will lose 
your life, but you will save the army thereby. " " Yes, 
sir," said the officer, and in the dreadful pass he 
died accordingly. Such is the spirit with which 
worldly men, under the influence of worldly prin- 
ciples, labor for a " corruptible crown." With what 
spirit should a Christian make sacrifices to " gain 
an incorruptible crown t" 

(6.) Consider also the examples of self-sacrifice 
for truth and duty recorded in the Bible. First ot 
all — " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He be- 
came poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be 
rich." " Being found in fashion as a man, He hum- 
bled himself and became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross." Nor with reluctance did 
He make the sacrifice. It was "for the joy that 
n2 



150 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

was set before Him, that he endured the cross and 
despised the shame." What he requires of us, is, 
that we be just as prompt and cheerful in " suffer- 
ing the loss of all things," for his honor and truth, 
as He was in making such sacrifices for us. Are 
we worthy of the name of Christians, unless such 
is our spirit in reference to every truth and prin- 
ciple of the " glorious gospel of the blessed God V 9 

Nor were primitive Christians wanting in respect 
to this spirit. They rejoiced that they were " count- 
ed worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ." 
Among their highest privileges they enumerated 
this — " Unto us it is given in behalf of Christ, not 
only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for his 
sake." "And now," says Paul, "behold, I go 
bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing 
the things that shall befall me there ; save that the 
Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that 
bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these 
things move me, neither count I my life dear unto 
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, 
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." 
Again, "If I be offered upon the sacrifice and 
service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you 
all. For this cause also do ye joy and rejoice 
with me." Such was the estimate in which an- 
cient believers held the truths and principles of the 
gospel. Such was the spirit with which they " suf- 
fered the loss of all things" for that gospel. Shall 
we not in the same spirit offer ourselves in behalf 
of every truth and principle of the same gospel 1 
Whenever a truth or principle of the gospel is be- 
fore us, shall we " take thought" about t|ie conse- 
quences resulting from a reception of that truth, or 
from obedience to that principle ] 

5. Let us now for a few moments contemplate 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 151 

the circumstances in which men are ordinarily 
placed, and the objects in view of which solicitude 
is commonly called forth. The farmer, we will 
suppose, has planted and sown his fields, and used 
all required instrumentalities to secure a harvest. 
Let him now simply do the following things, and 
carefulness about the result of his labors will have 
no place in his heart. 

(1.) Let him repose implicit confidence in the 
following promises, and render continued obedi- 
ence to the following precepts. " Trust in the 
Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, 
and verily thou shalt be fed." " He that walketh 
righteously and speaketh uprightly, shall dwell on 
high : his place of defense shall be the munition of 
rocks : bread shall be given him ; his waters shall 
be sure." Who can "take thought about the mor- 
row," in presence of such promises ] 

(2.) Let him bear continually in mind, that he 
will have just such a harvest as pleases God. Why 
should he not be — how can he fail to be satisfied 
with the dispensations of infinite wisdom and love? 

(3.) If he continues obedient and trusts the word 
of God, he will have just such a harvest as is best 
for him. "No e:ood things will be withheld from 
him." Not one of his real necessities will be left 
unsupplied. Where is the place for carefulness in 
the presence of §uch hallowed truths as these ] 

(4.) Let him bear in mind, that " taking thought" 
will not add a single grain to his harvest, nor a blade 
of grass to his pastures. At the same time, it will 
forfeit all claim to the divine protection and bless- 
ing. 

Who does not see that such an individual can 
not " take thought fbr the morrow, saying, what 
shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal 
shall I be clothed," or what shall be the result of 



152 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

my efforts for a harvest, without sin against God ? 
without distrust of the truth and faithfulness of 
God ? The considerations above presented are 
equally applicable to our condition in all the rela- 
tions and circumstances of life. If it is sinful for 
us to be " careful and troubled" in any one rela- 
tion, the same state of mind is equally sinful in 
every other. 

But, says one, I am under engagements to others. 
I have contracted debts which I am bound to meet. 
Not if providential occurrences render it impossi- 
ble for you to do it. Consider the following ques- 
tions: Did you do right in contracting those debts ? 
If not, repentance for the past, and not anxiety for 
the consequences, is demanded. Are you now 
using all lawful instrumentalities to meet those en- 
gagements 1 Are you willing and desirous to do 
all that duty requires of you to accomplish that 
object] If not, repentance for present sin, and 
not " thought for the morrow," is required of you. 
But suppose that those debts were contracted with- 
out sin, or that all past sin has been repented of, 
that you are now doing all that duty requires of you 
— then you owe it to God, to yourself, and to the 
world, even to your creditors, to resign the future, 
with the utmost peacefulness, to Providence. If 
God shall call you to exemplify the Christian char- 
acter in a state of poverty or bankruptcy, it will be 
because precisely such exemplification is needed. 
You ought to be just as willing to glorify God in 
that relation as in any other. You can not, by 
" taking thought," pay a solitary debt. You will 
thereby only injure your own soul, and disgrace 
the sacred name by which you are called. 

But our children, how shall we make provision 
for them % You have little fear, I presume, that 
they will not have " food and raiment." This is 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 15b 

not the ground of your anxiety. To take thought 
even about them, is sin. For the promises of God 
cover all the real necessities, not only of yourselves, 
but also of your children. What then must be the 
character of anxiety for any thing beyond these ! 
Even if your children should be left fatherless, you 
may " leave them with the Lord, and your widows 
may trust in Him." You are not fearful, that your 
children will not have, day by day, their daily food. 
You are solicitous, lest they should not become 
wealthy and honorable among men. Do you de- 
sire this, let me ask, as a means of their salvation ? 
Do not the Scriptures teach us, that individuals, 
in such circumstances, are least likely to become 
" heirs of the grace of life." " How hardly shall 
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of 
heaven ?" " They that will be rich fall into tempta- 
tion, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdi- 
tion." Are you careful and troubled, lest your 
children should not be placed in the midst of such 
temptations as these ] 

But my health is poor. What if I should be laid 
aside entirely ] Yes, reader, what if you should ? 
That, then, is the very condition in which God most 
needs your services. Ought you not to be as will- 
ing to glorify Him in sickness as in health ] in death 
as in life % Permit me to ask two or three ques- 
tions here. How was this state of your physical 
system brought about ] Was it by a violation ut 
the laws of life and health ] If so, repentance for 
the past, and not solicitude for the future, is called 
for. Are you now living in strict conformity to the 
laws of life and health, and consequently to the laws 
of God, in respect to food, drink, and dress ] If 
you are, and all interests are committed to your 
God and Savior, remember that you can not have 



154: THE TRUE BELIEVE*. 

too much sickness. Nor can you die too soon. 
" Fear not, God is with you." " He will never 
leave thee, nor forsake thee. ,, " He will help 
thee, and strengthen thee. He will uphold thee 
by the right hand of his righteousness. " He will 
place you in circumstances where you can do the 
most to glorify His name. " Take therefore no 
thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take 
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the 
day is the evil thereof." 

REMARKS. 

1. We are now prepared to contemplate the 
light in which " taking thought for the morrow," 
carefulness in all its forms, should he regarded. 
These are states of mind about which the great 
mass of Christians take very little account. To 
indulge them is commonly regarded as indicating 
mental or physical weakness, rather than sin. Yet 
there are doubtless few forms of sin more offensive 
to God, or more disastrous in their influence. How 
often did Christ rebuke this sin in his disciples. 
Never until they were emancipated from its in- 
fluence, were they prepared for the great work to 
which He had called them. Reader, whenever you 
find yourself inclined to be " careful and troubled 
about many things," will you not stop at once, and 
inquire the cause % Will you not ask yourself, 
Why do these thoughts and feelings arise in my 
mind % You will find, that they have their origin 
exclusively in unbelief. You have taken your af- 
fections from things above, and set them on things 
on the earth. You have consequently ceased to 
rest with implicit confidence in the truth and faith- 
fulness of God. The natural and necessary result 
is, your mind has become perturbed with doubt, 
fear, and perplexity about the very objects upon 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 155 

which your heart is set. How aggravated is the 
sinfulness of such a state of mind, when indulged, 
as it always is, in the presence of infinite realities, 
and of the "exceeding great and precious prom- 
ises" of God, which cover our entire necessities in 
time and eternity. 

2. The appropriate remedy of this state of mind 
next demands our consideration. If we would be 
fully emancipated from its influence, we must, 

(1.) Admit to ourselves, and confess to God, its 
aggravated guilt. We must feel and acknowledge, 
that we have no more right to be "careful and 
troubled," than we have to perpetrate the crimes 
of murder and adultery. The great mass of indi- 
viduals can not be emancipated from this state of 
mind, for the simple reason that they can not be 
brought to confess, to themselves and to God, its 
sinfulness. 

(2.) We must " set our affections on things above, 
and not on things on the earth." When the heart 
is set upon objects, infinite and eternal, carefulness 
in respect to things finite and temporary will be 
excluded. 

(3.) In the exercise of simple faith, we must 
commend our entire interests to God, as unto a 
faithful creator. When " our mind is thus staid 
upon Him, He will keep us in perfect peace." 
Not a wave of trouble shall ever roll across our 
peaceful breasts. Our hearts shall be strangers to 
fear, except in respect to one thing, offending the 
object of infinite and boundless love upon which 
our affection is fixed. 

3. We now perceive the objects about which, 
when engaged in any employment whatever, espe- 
cially in enterprises of great importance, it is proper 
for us to "take thought." It is about the simple and 
exclusive inquiry, What is right, what is duty, what 



156 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

is the will of God ] About this we are ever to be 
careful, but not troubled. For our " eye being sin- 
gle" to this one object, God has promised Himself 
to " instruct and teach us in the way we should 
go, and guide us by his eye." About every thing 
else, all care is to be dismissed ; for God has 
promised that while our wills are in harmony with 
His, not a demand of our being shall be left un- 
supplicd. Header, arc you now ready to " commit 
the keeping of your soul unto God in well-doing, 
as unto a faithful Creator]" 

Finally, we notice the exalted privilege of the 
Christian. The sacred writer thus expresses it : 
" That we, being delivered out of the hands of our 
enemies," from every thing which would destroy 
our peace, or disturb the deep and permanent re- 
pose of the soul in God, " might serve Him with- 
out fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, 
all the days of our life." It is his privilege to be 
" as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; as poor, yet 
making many rich ; as having nothing, yet possess- 
ing all things." "God is his shield, and his ex- 
ceeding great reward," and it is his privilege to 
serve God, at all times and under all circumstances, 
with perfect "fullness of joy," to be so indepen- 
dent of all finite objects, that no vicissitudes of 
time or place can do him real injury, or disturb 
the fixed content of his soul in God, and in the 
arrangements and. dispensations of His providence 
and grace. 

An English officer was in a storm at sea, where 
every one was momentarily expecting to be swal- 
lowed up in the bosom of the deep. While terror 
and dismay sat upon every countenance around 
him, he was as calm as a summer evening. " My 
dear," exclaimed his wife, " how is it possible for 
you to be thus calm and peaceful amid such a scene 



TAKING THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 157 

as this ?" The officer arose, and placing his back 
against a pillar, so that he could stand with steadi- 
ness, drew his sword, and presenting its point to 
her breast, inquired, " Are you not afraid of that 
sword r "No," was the reply; "my husband 
holds it, and I know he loves me too well to injure 
me with it." " So," said the officer, " I know m 
whom I have believed. ■ He holds the winds m 
His fist, and measures the sea in the hollow of His 
hand,' and He hath declared that no evil shall be- 
fall those who put their trust in Him." It is your 
privilege, Christian, at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances, to be in the same state of mind m ref- 
erence to all objects and events. 

The Bible declares, that " they that wait on the 
Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount 
up on wings as eagles; they shall run, and not 
be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." It is 
said of the eagle, that, when soaring in his native 
heaven, as he descries the approaching tempest, he 
first surveys the scene, and if he is equal to the 
storm, he sails on to meet, and rides triumphantly 
through it. If the storm appears too powerful for 
his strength, he raises his wings, and, mounting 
above the warring elements, sails in the eternal 
sunshine of the upper skies. So of those who 
" wait on the Lord." When their strength is equal 
to the approaching tempest, God " will keep them 
in perfect peace," while it beats around them. 
But if it be too strong for them, He gives the 
wings of faith and love, on which they rise above 
the °storm, and ride with God upon it. Christian, 
have you attained to this blessed state] Have 
your feet been planted upon those everlasting hills, 
where " your sun goes not down, and your moon 
does not withdraw itself; where the Lord is your 
everlasting light, and the days of your mourning 



158 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

are ended ] To attain this is not only your duty, 
but your privilege. Till you have thus attained, 
you are not prepared for the great work to which 
God has called you. 

Dear sinner, you are now " careful and troubled 
about many things." You are " afflicted, tossed 
with tempest, and not comforted." In your own 
experience you fully realize the truth of the fear- 
ful declaration, " There is no peace, saith my God, 
to the wicked." What then will you do, when 
the storms and tempests of eternity sweep over 
you] 



SERMON VIII. 
GROWING IN GRACE. 

Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ— 2 Pet., iii., 18. 

In the context, Christians are exhorted to be 
"diligent, that they maybe found of Christ in peace, 
without spot, and blameless," and to " beware, lest 
being led away with the error of the wicked, they 
fall from their own steadfastness." As a means of 
securing this good, and avoiding this evil, the Apos- 
tle exhorts them to " grow in grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 
The real meaning of the text, as it stands in the 
original, may be thus expressed : Grow in the grace 
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

There are two things in which we are here re- 
quired to grow — in the grace of Christ, and in the 
knowledge of Him. How frequently and peremp- 
torily these duties are enjoined upon us in the 
Bible, the reader is doubtless aware. In love and 
every grace, we are required to " abound more and 
more." In knowledge, we are required to "go on 
to perfection." The two duties presented in the 
text, I shall not discuss separately ; since they mu- 
tually imply each other, and neither can be per- 
formed, as here required, without the other. The 
attention of the reader is therefore invited to an 
elucidation of the following propositions : 

I. What is implied in growing in grace. 

II. The necessity and importance of grow- 
ing in grace. 



160 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

III. THE INSTRUMENTALITIES AND INFLUENCES OF 
WHICH WE MUST AVAIL OURSELVES, TO ACCOMPLISH 
THIS OBJECT. 

I. Wliat is implied in growing in grace. 

The primary signification of the term grace, is 
favor. To grow in the grace of an individual, is 
to increase in that in which he takes pleasure, and 
consequently to become the object of his increas- 
ing favor and delight. The child, for example, 
whose powers are continually expanding, and who 
is making constant progress in those things in which 
the parent takes pleasure, continually grows in the 
grace of the parent. In other words, such a child 
is constantly an object of greater and greater favor 
and delight with the parent. To grow in the 
" grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, " implies : 

1. A continued growth in that in which Christ 
takes the highest delight — that is, in holiness, with 
all its appropriate accompaniments, moral, intellect- 
ual, and physical. 

2. A consequent continued growth in the love 
and favor of Christ. 

3. As a t final consequence, that we continually 
receive more and more manifest, decisive, and en- 
dearing tokens of His favor and delight. 

As the Christian constantly grows in holiness, 
as all his powers and susceptibilities, as a conse- 
quence, receive a continued, beautiful, and harmo- 
1 nious expansion, under the light and teachings of 
the word, Spirit, and providence of God, every 
person of the sacred Trinity continually regards 
him with greater and greater favor and delight, 
and he continually receives more and more mani- 
fest, decisive, and endearing tokens of the divine 
favor. This is growing in grace. Reader, do you 
know what this is by blessed experience % 



GROWING IN GRACE. 161 

Growing in grace does not imply that our holi- 
ness is at the present moment imperfect. The fact 
that we are required to grow in the grace of Christ 
no more implies that our present holiness is min- 
gled with sin, than the fact, that we are required 
to grow in the knowledge of Christ, implies that our 
present knowledge of Him is mingled with error. 

Beside, if this command implies that our present 
holiness is mingled with sin, then the holiness of 
Christ was not perfect. For it is declared (Luke, 
ii., 52), that He grew in grace. " The child Jesus 
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor" [the 
original being the same as that rendered grace in 
the text] " with God and man." 

On the other hand, the more constant and entire 
our sanctification or consecration to Christ, the 
more rapid will be the expansion of all our powers 
and susceptibilities under the light and teachings 
of the word, Spirit, and providence of God ; and, 
consequently, the more rapid will be our growth 
in holiness, and in grace, the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. No person renders full obedience 
to this precept, according to its real spirit, unless 
his holiness is both constant and entire. 

Hence, I remark again, that growing in grace 
does not, as is commonly supposed, imply progres- 
sive sanctijication ; that is, that we continually be- 
come less and less sinful, and in corresponding de- 
grees more and more holy. This I infer for the 
following reasons : 

1. We have, according to this construction of the 
text, a positive command in the Bible, to give up 
sin gradually, and consequently prohibiting our 
giving up all sin at once. To become by degrees 
less ^ind less sinful, is to give up sin gradually. If 
this is the meaning of the command, "grow in 
grace," we have a positive precept, requiring a 
o2 



162 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

gradual, and of course prohibiting an immediate, 
renunciation of all sin. Who can believe that the 
Bible contains such a requirement as that ] 

2. On this supposition, the precepts of the Bible 
are directly contradictory the one to the other. For 
we have many precepts requiring us to renounce 
all sin at once and forever. Who can suppose 
that we have other precepts, requiring a gradual 
renunciation of sin, and consequently prohibiting 
obedience to the former precepts ] 

3. The above construction of this text charges 
upon the Apostle the greatest absurdity conceiva- 
ble. In the context, as we have seen, he requires 
Christians to give " diligence, that they may be 
found of Christ in peace, without spot and blame- 
less." As a means to this end, he requires them in 
the text to " grow in the grace and knowledge of 
Christ.' ' Who can suppose that an inspired Apos- 
tle has been guilty of the absurdity of requiring us 
to become less and less sinful — that is, to renounce 
sin gradually, the common idea of growing in grace, 
and this as a means of being " found of Christ in 
peace, without spot and blameless P* | 

4. Entire sanctification implies perfect obedience 
to all divine requirements. Among these we find 
the command, " grow in grace." If this command 
implies a gradual renunciation of sin, then perfect 
obedience to all divine requirements would imply 
imperfect holiness — the most palpable contradic- 
tion. It is only when our holiness, or consecration to 
Christ is entire, that the precept under consideration 
is really obeyed. Such, reader, is growing in grace. 

II. The necessity and importance of growing in 
grace. 

This will appear from the following considera- 
tions : 



GROWING IN GRACE. 163 

1. He who does not continually "grow in the grace 
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," 
is living in the negle ct of known and acknowledged 
duty, and in the practice of known sin. Reader, 
are you fully impressed with the fact, that you are 
always acting in the presence of a known and pos- 
itive command of God, to " grow in grace and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ V 9 There is no command in the Bible 
more sacred than this. What respect have you to 
this commandment ] Do you make it your aim 
to become more and more an object of God's favor 
and delight ] If not, remember, that sin lies upon 
your conscience. 

2. We must continually grow in the grace and 
knowledge of Christ, or lose the degree of grace 
already possessed. "He tliat keepeth the whole 
law, and yet offendeth in one point, is guilty of all." 
You can not, reader, at any time cease to obey 
the command, " grow in grace," without, for that 
period, losing all the holiness and favor with God 
which you have already acquired. Life with you 
is a continued growth in holiness, with all its ap- 
propriate accompaniments. When you cease to 
grow, you cease to live at all. In such a state, you 
are " dead while you live." 

3. A necessity for continued growth in the grace 
and knowledge of Christ is laid in the constitution 
of our being. In their nature, all our powers and 
susceptibilities are p rogr essive. Not only to pos- 
sess knowledge, and to be pure in heart, but a con- 
tinued growth in knowledge and purity is a funda- 
mental want of our nature. All our powers and 
susceptibilities stagnate as soon as we become sta- 
tionary. To live at all — to enjoy what we have 
already acquired — we must " go from strength to 
strength, every one of us in Zion." We must be 



164 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

" changed from glory to glory." We must rise to 
higher and higher elevations in holiness, and to 
wider and wider prospects of the divine works and 
glory, in the boundless field of wisdom and knowl- 
edge which God has spread out before us. 

4. Growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ 
is indispensable to our continued usefulness. A 
minister of the gospel, for example, whatever his 
present acquirements may be, will soon lose his 
influence, if he remain stationary; and this for two 
important reasons : 

(1.) The progress of the public mind is onward, 
and such an individual will soon be left far in the 
rear. He of course ceases to command public at- 
tention, and to influence public sentiment. 

(2.) The moment the mind becomes stationary, 
it ceases to act with its wonted vigor even upon 
subjects already known. Such a man will continue 
to ring his changes upon old and hackneyed sub- 
jects, with less and less interest to himself and 
others. 

Now the same remarks are equally applicable 
to us as Christians, in all the relations of life. We 
can not remain stationary, and retain the influence 
for Christ which we now possess. Continued 
growth is as essential to usefulness, as it is to life, 
with us as Christians. It is only when we are 
" mounting up on wings as eagles," when we " run 
and are not weary, and walk and are not faint," 
and our path is " shining with constantly increasing 
brightness," that we are " spreading abroad the 
savor of the name of Christ." 

III. The instrumentalities and influences of which 
we must avail ourselves to grow in grace. 

In general I would say, we must regard this as 
the great business of our lives, as one of the most 



GROWING IN GRACE. 165 

important duties which we owe to God, to our- 
selves, and to the world. We should feel that that 
day is lost, in which we have not made progress 
in the " grace and knowledge of our Lord and Sa- 
vior Jesus Christ." To be particular, if we would 
grow in grace as required, we must — 

1. Make the character of God, as revealed in his 
works and word, and especially in the plan of re- 
demption, the great and continued theme of thought 
and study. Our souls must " thirst for God, the 
living God." To " know Him, to understand his 
way, and find grace in his sight," must be the great 
end of our being. It is the privilege of the sons 
of God to u behold with open face, as in a glass, 
the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the 
same 'wcmgefrom glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
of the Lord." It is only by thus knowing God, 
and being changed into His image, and reflecting 
that image all abroad, that we do or can grow in 
grace as required. Remember also, reader, that we 
can thus know God only on one condition, that we 
make his character the great theme of thought and 
study. " Then shall ye seek me, and find me, when 
ye shall search for me with all your heart." 

2. Similar attention must be given to the study 
of the divine r equir ements, both in respect to their 
nature, and application in all our circumstances and 
relations in life. "I have more understanding," 
says the Psalmist, " than all my teachers ; for thy 
testimonies are my meditation." The individual 
who thus meditates upon the divine statutes will 
continually " grow in the grace and knowledge of 
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." He will re- 
ceive such a sweet and hallowed influence from the 
truth and Spirit of God, as will continually render 
him more and more an object of the divine appro- 
bation and favor. Permit me, reader, to ask you, 



166 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

if in all the varied conditions and relations in life 
in which you are called to move, this is your great 
inquiry — what sentiments, what feelings, what 
course of conduct, does pure benevolence, the great 
law of love, require me to cherish and pursue in 
these circumstances ? In short, is the law of God 
your meditation, day and night ] 

3. As a means of special importance to growth 
in grace, reader, acquaint yourself fully with the 
provisions of grace revealed in the gospel, to per- 
fect you in your obedience to God's pure and holy 
law. In these provisions for our redemption God 
has given us a revelation of his infinite and bound- 
less love to us. In " knowing and believing" that 
love, our " love to Him is made perfect." We thus 
" grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ." The great reason why 
Christians generally grow so little in the grace of 
Christ is, their strange and melancholy ignorance 
of the " riches of the glory of Christ's inheritance 
in the saints." They know not the provisions which 
Christ has made for their full and complete redemp- 
tion. They do not, therefore, avail themselves of 
these provisions for their growth in holiness, and 
consequently in the grace of Christ. 

4. Frequent, I may add, constant and devout in- 
tercourse and communion with God, is an indis- 
pensable means of growing in grace. It is at the 
throne of grace that we receive the fullest, the most 
distinct, and the highest manifestations of the divine 
glory. Here it is, that our "growth in the grace, 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Je- 
sus Christ," is the most rapid. " Enoch walked 
with God." How constant and rapid must have 
been his growth in the grace and knowledge of 
God, consequent on such intimate and endearing 
intercourse with Him. 



GROWING IN GRACE. 167 

5. In the appropriate cultivation of all our pow- 
ers and susceptibilities, while our M eye is single" 
in doing it, we grow in the grace of Christ. These 
powers were given us to be developed. In ac- 
quainting ourselves, not only with God, but with 
all his works and providence, with all truth which 
lies around us in the universe, these powers and 
susceptibilities receive their appropriate growth 
and development. He who is thus seeking to de- 
velop and strengthen the powers which God has 
given him, and is doing this for the purpose of glo- 
rifying Him in the widest sphere possible, is con- 
tinually growing in the grace of Christ. He is 
doing that which renders him the increasing object 
of the divine favor. As he increases in wisdom, 
he " increases also in favor with God and man." 
Reader, are you thus growing in the grace of God] 

REMARKS. 

1. We see how it is that those who, at particular 
periods, have made high attainments in holiness, 
lose the blessedness then enjoyed. They cease 
their efforts to " grow in grace, and increase in the 
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." We must 
be more and more blessed in Christ, or we can not 
continue to be blessed in Him at all. We must 
ii abound in love more and more," or lose what we 
have already attained. The moment we become 
stationary, the love of God ceases to be "shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is 
given unto us." Remember, Christian, that you 
must " go from strength to strength," and be con- 
tinually changed into the image of Christ, " from 
glory to glory," or dwell in a " land of darkness 
and shadow of death." It must be our daily study 
to know more and more of Christ, and to enlarge 
our attainments in all that is pleasing in his sight, 



168 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

or cease to be blessed in what we now know of 
Him. How many at this period fall into the 
" snare of the devil.' ' They are tempted to think, 
at some bright hour, that the victory is won. Un- 
der the influence of this temptation, their progress 
ceases, and soon, to their astonishment, they find 
themselves in greater darkness than ever before. 

2. One of the fundamental characteristics of holi- 
ness in creatures, in all finite beings, here presents 
itself to our contemplation. God's holiness, and 
consequent blessedness, are incapable of increase 
or diminution. Not so with finite beings. Holi- 
ness in them is a state of perpetual progress in 
knowledge, purity, and blessedness. In no other 
form can holiness exist at all in them, excepting at 
intervals of sickness, sleep, etc., when, from the 
nature of their circumstances they can make no 
immediate progress. 

3. The condition and prospects of a large pro- 
portion of professing Christians, here demand our 
serious consideration. With many, the brightest 
spot in their whole Christian experience is the pe- 
riod which transpired immediately subsequent to 
their professed conversion. Reader, if this is true 
of your experience, you have fearful reason to con- 
clude, that you have never been born of God. If 
you have truly known Christ, you have " counted 
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
edge of Christ Jesus our Lord." You, of course, 
have sought to know more and more of Him. In 
your experience, you also have had an exemplifica- 
tion of the truth of the declaration of Christ: " This 
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
" The water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water, springing up into everlasting life." 
Your path, if it is that of the just, has " shined 



GROWING IN GRACE. 169 

brighter and brighter," as the perfect day is dawn- 
ing on. Reader, is this your experience ] 

4. The maxim, that if Christians were entirely 
sanctified, they would cease to grow in grace, next 
demands our consideration. If growing in grace 
implies a gradual renunciation of sin, this maxim 
is true. If, on the other hand, it implies, as we 
have seen it does, implicit obedience to all the 
other commands of God, together with a constant 
increase in all that is pleasing to Him, nothing is 
more false and pernicious in its tendency than the 
maxim under consideration. What a strange max- 
im this is. If a Christian should have " respect to 
all God's commandments," he would make no prog- 
ress in holiness, nor in the grace or favor of God. 
If, on the other hand, he voluntarily withholds from 
God a part of his heart, and gradually, instead of 
immediately, as he is commanded, yields up his 
spirit of disobedience, he is then making progress 
in the divine grace or favor. Now a state of entire 
sanctification, instead of being inconsistent with 
growth in grace, is, as we have seen in the prog- 
ress of this discourse, the necessary condition of 
such growth, as required in the Bible. No man 
makes that progress in holiness, and in the grace 
of Christ, which he is required to make, who is not 
in a state of entire obedience to every command of 
God. 

5. We have also, in the light of this discourse, 
another striking instance of the manner in which 
the doctrine of Imperfection has perverted the con- 
ceptions of Christians, in respect to the most impor- 
tant truths and principles of the gospel. An indi- 
vidual, under the influence of this doctrine, meets 
with the requirement of the text, "grow in grace." 
He at once assumes, that in this command, we are 
required to become less and less sinful, and in this 

P 



170 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

sense, more and more holy. That is, that a gradual, 
instead of an immediate renunciation of sin, is here 
required of us. From this construction of the text, 
he draws the obvious conclusion, that no Christian 
ever did or ever will, in this life, attain to a state 
of entire sanctification. For, if any one should make 
such attainments, he would cease to live in con- 
formity with a plain and positive command of God. 
But the influence of this doctrine does not stop here. 
The individual under consideration, now attempts 
obedience to the command, " grow in grace," ac- 
cording to the above construction : that is, he aims 
to become less and less sinful ; in other words, to 
give up sin gradually. Into what a snare of the 
devil has this individual here fallen, as will be seen 
by the following considerations : 

(1.) In aiming to become less and less sinful, that 
is, to grow in grace according to the above construc- 
tion of the text, he ceases even to aim at obedience 
to other and numberless requirements of the Bible, 
which demand an immediate renunciation of all 
sin ; for it is an absolute impossibility for us to 
aim, or intend to become less and less sinful, and 
to intend to give up all sin, at one and the same 
time. 

(2.) The thing, at which this individual is now 
aiming, is perfectly undefined and indefinable. A 
child is in a state of voluntary disobedience to pa- 
rental authority. What should we think, if that 
child should resolve to give up the spirit of diso- 
bedience by degrees ] He could have no definite 
conception of the object at which he is aiming. So 
with every one who aims at a gradual renunciation 
of a spirit of disobedience to God. Christian, you 
can not intelligently aim at such an object. No 
one knows whereof he affirms, when he speaks of 
doing it. 



GROWING IN GRACE. ' 171 

(3.) To aim to " grow in grace" in this sense 
would be sin against God. It would imply, as above 
shown, a disregard of all those precepts of the 
Bible which require an immediate renunciation of 
all sin. Remember, Christian, that to aim to grow 
in grace in any sense which implies a gradual re- 
nunciation of sin, is nothing but a growth in sin 
itself. Thus it is that the doctrine of Imperfection 
has perverted the conceptions of the church in re- 
spect to the most important truths and principles 
of the gospel, and has left her in a " snare of the 
devil." 

6. Finally, the subject, reader, as it is presented 
in the Bible, is now before you. In the light of 
it, you may judge of your past character, present 
state, and future privileges and duties. In regard 
to the past, if your growth in the grace and knowl- 
edge of Christ has not been constant and rapid, 
you have reasons of infinite weight for the deepest 
humiliation before God. With the book of inspi- 
ration and providence open before you, and the 
aid of the Spirit of God always available to guide 
you into all truth, how much might you now know 
and enjoy of God, and do for Him, had you " cried 
after knowledge, and lifted up your voice for un- 
derstanding;" and had it been your continued aim 
to " abound more and more in love," and in every 
grace and virtue ] Remember, also, that whatever 
your present attainments may be, however enlarged 
your vision of truth, and full and perfect your love, 
the irrevocable condition of the continuance of tha 
blessedness now enjoyed, is a continued progress j 
from strength to strength, a constant " change into 
the image of Christ, from glory to glory." What- 
ever the degree of holiness now possessed, it must 
increase with the increase of knowledge and ca- 
pacity, or cease to exist at all. 



172 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

In regard to the future, what blessed prospects 
are open before you. God has brought you into a 
" land of broad rivers and streams." How justly 
does he require of you a rapid growth into the 
"measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 
He has spread out before you " all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge." With what propriety 
does he require you to " cry after knowledge, and 
lift up your voice for understanding," until you 
"understand the fear of the Lord, and find the 
knowledge of God," until you " understand right- 
eousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every 
good path." This, Christian, is your duty. It is 
also your high privilege. And when you have at- 
tained to the highest elevation of which you can 
now conceive, you have just commenced the alpha- | 
bet of eternity. Your progress is eternally onward. 
To serve, and glorify, and enjoy God, with powers 
and susceptibilities perpetually enlarging; to be 
always approaching a comprehension of the infini- 
tude of God, without attaining it ; to be perpetu- 
ally changing into brighter and brighter resem- 
blances to the divine image ; to be ever " growing 
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ" — this is to fill up the endless future 
of the believer. Reader, shall this blessedness be 
yours 1 



SERMON IX. 

A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 

A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. 
— Prov., xxv., 11. 

This passage has, by some, been thus rendered : 
" A word fitly spoken is like golden apples in bas- 
kets of silver. ,, That is, "a word spoken with 
propriety, opportunely, and suitable to the occa- 
sion, is as much in its place, and as conspicuously 
beautiful, as the golden fruit which appears through 
the apertures of an exquisitely wrought silver bas- 
ket." The real meaning of the sacred writer, is no 
doubt this : Among the various objects of surpass- 
ing beauty which the universe around presents, 
nothing is more beautiful than u a word fitly spok- 
en." The rose is beautiful. So is the lily of the 
valley. The rainbow is beautiful. So are the stars. 
Surpassingly beautiful is 

" The silver moon, 
When out of sight the clouds are driven, 
And she is left alone in heaven." 

But more beautiful than all, is a beautiful thought, 
clothed in appropriate language, and " fitly spok- 
en." 

Thought is beautiful, for various reasons. Some- 
times on account of what is intrinsic in the thought 
itself. " This, then, is the message which we have 
heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is 
light, and in Him is no darkness at all." The 
p2 



174 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

thought here expressed, the mind may contemplate 
throughout endless ages, and its surpassing beauty 
will be the same, " yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
Indeed, it requires long and deep meditation, fully 
to appreciate its beauty at all. Its beauty, how- 
ever, does not consist in the form of expression, 
but in what is intrinsic in the thought itself. " And 
Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for God 
took him." We think nothing of the form of ex- 
pression here. It is the surpassing beauty of the 
thought itself, that charms us. " But we all, with 
open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory 
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Is 
there in the wide world a thought so beautiful % 

Thought is sometimes beautiful, not on account 
of what is intrinsic in the thing itself, but of the 
manner in which it is expressed. " Saul and Jona- 
than were lovely in their lives, and in their death, 
they were not divided." It is the form of expres- 
sion that imparts the inconceivable beauty to the 
thought here. 

Sometimes we find each of the above character- 
istics united in the same thought. For example, 
" The divine promise of a Redeemer, like a rich 
and beautiful bud, at first inclosed in manifold cov- 
ering, swells and unfolds itself from age to age, till 
in Jesus of Nazareth, it opens into bloom, and scat- 
ters its fragrance over the world.'' 

There is another circumstance which imparts 
beauty to thought — its adaptation, on account of the 
manner and circumstances in which it is expressed, 
to answer an important end. " How great," said 
a scoffing infidel to a child who had " remembered 
its Creator in the days of its youth," " how great 
is the God you worship ]" " So great," replied 
the child, " that He fills immensity, and yet so small 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 175 

that He dwells in every heart that is humble and 
contrite." The infidel stood confounded and re- 
buked at his own presumption and audacity, and 
awed in view of the surpassing wisdom of even a 
child when " taught of God." The thought con- 
tained in the above reply, is exceedingly beautiful. 
Its highest beauty, however, arises from another 
circumstance — its wonderful adaptation, as an an- 
swer to the question of the scoffer. It was " a word 
fitly spoken." 

A thought thus expressed, has not only an inde- 
scribable beauty, but a value equally great. Some 
have supposed, that this is the chief idea which the 
sacred writer designed to express in the text, the 
great value of " a word fitly spoken." Hence they 
suppose, that reference is here had to the custom 
of ancient sovereigns, in presenting to their guests, 
on great occasions, silver trays or baskets filled 
with precious jewels, and gold molded into the 
form of fruit. I suppose, that both ideas, the beau- 
ty and value of a " word fitly spoken," are referred 
to by the sacred writer. The full meaning of the 
passage may be thus expressed : " A word fitly 
spoken," is, on account of its surpassing beauty 
and value, " like apples of gold in pictures of sil- 
ver." 

In listening to the conversation of certain indi- 
viduals, one circumstance strikes us with special 
interest— the peculiar adaptation of their thoughts, 
on account of the time, manner, and circumstances 
in which they are uttered, to accomplish the be- 
nevolent purposes of their hearts. As you mark 
their intercourse, you are almost continually con- 
strained to say, That was " a word fitly spoken." 
How proper, how timely was that thought. Here, 
reader, is wisdom, such as we all need. How shall 
we attain it, so that our " conversation shall always 



176 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

be with grace, seasoned with salt?" My object 
will be to answer this inquiry. In doing it, we will 
notice — 

I. Some of the characteristics of the say- 
ings REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT. 

II. Show how to attain to the wisdom by 

WHICH WHAT WE SAY, SHALL BEAR THE CHARAC- 
TER OF X " WORD FITLY SPOKEN." 

I. Some of the character istics of the sayings re- 
ferred to in the text. 

In noticing the characteristics of the sayings here 
referred to, I would remark, that whenever the 
mind gives utterance to thought, it does so, as a 
means to an end. Hence, 

1. The first characteristic that I notice of a " word 
fitly spoken," is this. The end to be accomplish- 
ed, shall be an important one ; an end the accom- 
plishment of which, is demanded by benevolence. 
Thought should never be uttered, to secure any but 
a benevolent end. When expressed to accomplish 
any other, and especially an opposite purpose, it is 
out of place. Its utterance can not be character- 
ized as a" word fitly spoken." When uttered to 
accomplish the ends which benevolence demands, 
thought is in its place. This is its appropriate 
sphere. 

2. When thought is employed to answer a great 
end demanded by benevolence, and when the 
thought uttered is best adapted to secure that end, 
then its utterance may with eminent propriety bear 
the high appellation, " a word fitly spoken." When 
important exigencies occur, when crises arise, in 
which the eternal weal or woe of an immortal mind 
is trembling upon a moment's tender point, a thought 
arising from some pure and benevolent heart ap- 
pears, a thought which we at once recognize as of 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN'. 177 

all others best adapted to meet the present exi- 
gency. Like the bright star which arose to guide 
the Eastern sages to the Babe of Bethlehem, it ap- 
pears at the very time and in the circumstances in 
which it was most needed, and in which nothing 
else can supply its place. When such a thought 
appears, we at once exclaim, Tha.t is " a word fitly 
spoken." Truly such a word " is like apples of 
gold in pictures of silver.' ' Nothing in the uni- 
verse possesses such beauty and value. 

As an illustration, notice the reply of the child 
to the scoffer, above referred to. Is there any 
thought conceivable, that could, without injury, be 
substituted for it, in that particular place ] Any 
that could so well answer the end which benevo- 
lence then demanded ] This is what embalms it 
as " a word fitly spoken." 

Take another illustration. The daughter of an 
English nobleman was providentially brought under 
the influence of the followers of Wesley, and thus 
came to a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in 
Jesus. The father was almost distracted at the 
event, and by threats, temptations to extravagance 
in dress, by reading, and traveling in foreign coun- 
tries, and to places of fashionable resort, took every 
means in his power to divert her mind from " things 
unseen and eternal." But her " heart was fixed." 
The God of Abraham had become "her shield, and 
her exceeding great reward," and she was deter- 
mined that nothing finite should deprive her of her 
infinite and eternal portion in Him, or displace 
Him from the throne of her heart. At last, the 
father resolved upon a final and desperate expe- 
dient, by which his end should be gained, or his 
daughter ruined, so far as her prospects in this life 
were concerned, A large company of the nobility 
were invited to his house. It was so arranged that 



178 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

during the festivities, the daughters of different 
noblemen, and, among others, this one, were to be 
called on to entertain the company with singing, 
and music on the piano. If she complied, she 
parted with heaven and returned to the world. If 
6he refused compliance, she would be publicly dis- 
graced, and lose, past the possibility of recovery, 
her place in society. It was a dreadful crisis, and 
with peaceful confidence did she await it. As the 
crisis approached, different individuals, at the call 
of the company, performed their parts, with the 
greatest applause. At last the name of this daugh- 
ter was announced. In a moment all were in fixed 
and silent suspense to see how the scale of destiny 
would turn. Without hesitation, she rose, and, 
with a calm and dignified composure, took her 
place at the instrument. After a moment spent in 
6ilent prayer, she ran her fingers along the keys, 
and then, with an unearthly sweetness, eleva- 
tion, and solemnity, sung, accompanying her voice 
with the notes of the instrument, the following 
stanzas : 

11 No room for mirth, or trifling here, 
For worldly hope, or worldly fear, 

If life so soon is gone ; 
If now the judge is at the door, 
And all mankind must stand before 

Th' inexorable throne ! 

No matter which my thoughts employ ; 
A moment's misery or joy ; 

But oh ! when both shall end, 
Where shall I find my destined place ? 
Shall I my everlasting days 

With fiends or angels spend ? 

Nothing is worth a thought beneath, 
But how I may escape the death 

That never, never dies ! 
How make mine own election sure, 
And when I fail on earth, secure 

A mansion in the skies. 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 179 

Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray, 
Be thou my guide, be thou my way 

To glorious happiness ! 
Ah ! write the pardon on my heart ! 
And whensoe'er I hence depart, 

Let me depart in peace !" 

The minstrel ceased. The solemnity of eternity- 
was upon that assembly. Without speaking, they 
dispersed. The father wept aloud, and when left 
alone, sought the counsel and prayers of his daugh- 
ter for the salvation of his soul. His soul was saved, 
and his great estate consecrated to Christ. I would 
rather be the organ of communicating such thoughts 
in such circumstances, and to the productions of 
such results — I would rather possess wisdom thus 
to speak, as occasion requires, than to possess all 
that is finite, beside. What hymn, what thought 
in the universe could be substituted for the one 
then uttered ] The time, the occasion, the thought 
expressed, the hallowed and "sweet manner" of 
its utterance, present a full realization of all that 
is embraced in our idea of fitness. That surely 
was "a word fitly spoken." 

3. " A word fitly spoken," is also often marked 
by a peculiar fitness, to answer the end of benevo- 
lence, on account of its special adaptation to the 
particular state of the hearer's mind. We see, at 
once, that any alteration in the manner or form of 
expression, would mar its beauty and value, by its 
manifest want of adaptation in this one respect. 
Take a single illustration. Mr. Wesley once met 
a southern planter in a fearful rage at a slave, who 
stood before him trembling on account of a sen- 
tence, the execution of which was to him far more 
dreadful than death. Mr. W. entreated the man 
to forgive the wrong. " Never," was the haughty 
reply. " When I receive an injury, I never for- 
give it." " Then," said Mr. W., witi a tone and 



180 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

manner peculiar to himself, " I trust you yourself 
have never committed a sin. ,, The reply was like 
a sudden flash from the pyre of the last judgment, 
upon the mind of the angry man. A sinner like 
himself to adopt the maxim never to forgive ! Yet 
the mild, benevolent, and sweet manner of that 
reply, melted his heart. The offender was par- 
doned, with a humble request from the master, if 
I mistake not, for forgiveness from the slave. Sup- 
pose now the reply to have been given in the form 
which most likely would have been adopted by 
most individuals. For example : " Remember, you 
are yourself a great sinner, and if you do not for- 
give, you will not be forgiven by Grod." Such a 
charge, under such circumstances, would no doubt 
have roused his pride, together with the combative 
principles of his nature. His fury would have been 
redoubled upon his slave, and his contempt and 
indignation burned upon the reprover. All this 
was prevented by the form and manner of the re- 
ply. For the same reason, the truth uttered, en- 
tering "between the joints of -the harness," pierced 
to the very depths of the heart and conscience. 
Without being told directly of his great guilt as a 
sinner, the truth was so presented that he could 
not possibly avoid the deepest conviction of the 
fact, together with a corresponding impression of 
the fearful truth, that he that forgives not, shall 
never be forgiven. It was " a word fitly spoken." 
4. The circumstances of time and place in which 
a thought is expressed, often in connection with 
those above stated, embalm it as " a word fitly 
spoken." We see at once, that if it had been utter- 
ed at any other time or place, or in any other circum- 
stances, it would have had no efficiency to produce 
the results which now arise from it. Its appearance 
just at this moment, at this place, and under these 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 181 

peculiar circumstances, imparts to it the ineffable 
beauty and value which command our admiration. 
As an example and an illustration, I would refer the 
reader to the tract entitled " The Christian Trav- 
eler," one of the most interesting and profitable 
tracts ever published. Take the following scene 
from the tract — a scene which transpired on board 
a vessel on one of the western lakes. The young 
man, a mechanic, the hero of the scene, had, at the 
breakfast-table, with almost inimitable wisdom and 
propriety, obtained leave of the captain to attempt 
to put an end to the profanity of the sailors, one of 
the best means to reprove the captain himself for 
his own sin in this respect. Mark the manner in 
which the attempt was executed. 

" As soon as breakfast was over, the oldest and 
most profane of the sailors seated himself on the 
quarter-deck to smoke his pipe. The young man 
entered into conversation with him, and soon drew 
from him a history of the adventures of his life. 
From his boyhood he had followed the ocean. 
He had been tossed on the billows in many a 
tempest; had visited several missionary stations 
in different parts of the world, and gave his tes- 
timony to the good effects of missionary efforts 
among the natives of the Sandwich Islands. Proud 
of his nautical skill, he at length boasted that he 
could do any thing that could be done by a sailor. 

" ' I doubt it,' said the young man. 

"' I can,' answered the hardy tar, 'and will not 
be outdone, my word for it.' 

" 'Well, when a sailor passes hkiword, he ought 
to be believed. I know a sailor^who resolved to 
stop swearing ; and did so/ 

" ' Ah,' said the old sailor, ' you have anchored 
me ; I'm fast — but I can do it.' 

" ■ I know you can/ said the young man, ' and I 

Q 



182 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

hope you will anchor all your shipmates' oaths 
with yours.' 

" Not a word of profanity was afterward heard on 
board the vessel. During the day, as opportunity 
presented itself, he conversed with each sailor 
singly, on the subject of his soul's salvation, and 
gained the hearts of all." 

Thus by a few observations, made just as time 
and circumstances called for them, and in a form 
and manner adapted to give them efficacy, that 
vessel, in which little else but oaths and blas- 
phemies was before heard, was soon turned into a 
"floating bethel," in which prayers for mercy were 
ascending, and tears of penitence flowing. The 
scene was afterward changed to a canal boat, 
where by a similar course of conduct, speaking 
just as time and occasion demanded, and in a 
form and manner adapted to make the deepest 
impression, another " floating bethel" was created. 
Every one that reads that tract, can not fail to no- 
tice that it was not merely the truths uttered, but 
the time, manner, and circumstances of their utter- 
ance, which rendered every thing said "like apples 
of gold in pictures of silver." 

Here are the characteristics of true wisdom. 
Adopting the maxim, " There is a time to speak, 
and a time to refrain from speaking," it carefully 
watches the time and occasion most fit for speaking, 
and then says the identical things which the time 
and occasion require. 

5. I mention but one characteristic more. What 
is said, is seen to possess a peculiar fitness and pro- 
priety, when contemplated in the light of the char- 
acter, age, and relations of the speaker himself. 
We all know that what would appear highly fit 
and proper when spoken by one individual, would 
be wholly out of place, if spoken by another in the 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 183 

same circumstances. The reason lies in the differ- 
ence of their character. "When an individual who 
is living in the habitual practice of any known sin, 
exhorts a sinner to repent, when an individual who 
is known to be worldly-minded, exhorts a sinner to 
give up the world for Christ, and to look, not at 
" things seen and temporal, but at things unseen 
and eternal," we are shocked at the absurdity. 
On the other hand, let an individual whose spirit 
and life are in visible harmony with the gospel, 
exhort a sinner to do the same things, and all is in 
place. Such a person, every one says, has a right 
to say such things. 

It is said of a sister in Christ, who lived many 
years ago in western New York, that she had 
probably been instrumental in the conversion of 
more sinners than any minister in the same region 
of country. She was once asked, how it was, that 
she, while in the habit of speaking to every class of 
individuals, always spoke with effect, without giv- 
ing offense. Her reply was this — " Whenever such 
an individual comes within the circle of my influ- 
ence, I at once set my heart upon saying and doing 
what I can to secure his salvation. As soon as a 
fit opportunity presents, my plan is to converse 
with him on the 'things which concern his peace/ 
As preparatory to such an event, my aim is to order 
my entire deportment in his presence, so that what 
I say shall be impressed upon his heart and con- 
science, by all that he had previously seen in me." 
Here was the secret of her power. What was 
spoken was always in time, and rendered like 
" apples of gold in pictures of silver," by its cor- 
respondence with her entire character. It is in 
place for the truly good to urge the practice of 
goodness upon all around them. Nor is it fitting in 
any others to engage in this hallowed employment. 



184 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

II. How sliall we attain the wisdom by which 
what we say shall have the characteristics of a " word 
Jitly spoken" 

1. The first, and most important requisite is this : 
a truly benevolent heart, the consecration of our en- 
tire being to doing good. Whenever the mind is 
supremely devoted to any end, it readily perceives 
and appropriates to use, the means best adapted to 
secure that end. A mind purely benevolent will 
possess a vision divine to discern the time and oc- 
casion when, and means by which its own hallowed 
purposes and aspirations can be best realized. 

2. If we would speak the words of wisdom, we 
must seek an enlarged and accurate acquaintance 
with the truth of God. Truth is the instrument 
by which the ends of benevolence are to be realized. 
However sincere and strong our benevolence, if 
we are ignorant of the truth, we shall be ignorant 
of the means of doing good, when the occasion pre- 
sents itself. The benevolent mind, on the other 
hand, which is " well instructed in the things of 
the kingdom,' ' will seldom " draw the bow at a 
venture," and even then, its direction will be guided 
by wisdom unseen. Remember, reader, " When 
wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is 
pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve 
thee, understanding shall keep thee;" yea, " If thou 
criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for 
understanding ; if thou seekest her as silver, and 
searchest for her as hid treasures, then shalt thou 
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the 
knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; 
out of His mouth cometh knowledge and under- 
standing." " You will then open your mouth with 
wisdom, and on your tongue will be the law of 
kindness." The words of wisdom, as they drop 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 185 

from your lips, will be like " apples of gold in pic- 
tures of silver/' 

3. Another essential prerequisite is a deep per- 
sonal experience of the power of the truth and 
grace of Christ upon our own hearts. The indi- 
vidual who has gone down into the depths of Chris- 
tian experience, has descended into fathomless 
mines of the richest thought in the universe, mines 
in which he will find numberless " pearls of great 
price. " " The merchandise of these," in the mart 
of souls, he will find to be far " better than the 
merchandise of silver, and the gain of them than 
fine gold." In the depths of Christian experience, 
when the soul enters into direct communication 
with the thoughts, feelings, and operations of the 
infinite and eternal mind, feelings the most ex- 
panded and beautiful in existence, are generated. 
These feelings generate thoughts of corresponding 
value and beauty, and such thoughts, as occasion 
requires, naturally clothe themselves in such lan- 
guage as renders their utterance like " apples of 
gold in pictures of silver." Reader, amid those 
depths and heights, have you been taught to speak 
for Christ I 

4. Another essential prerequisite is wisdom to 
discern the peculiar attitude and state of the hear- 
er's mind, when we are about to speak for Christ. 
Under such circumstances, we should seldom speak 
at random. Our thoughts and words should be 
well selected. Especially should they be adapted 
to the peculiar state of the hearer's mind at the 
moment. The individual that is best acquainted, 
experimentally and theoretically, with the gospel, 
and is of the most "quick understanding" to dis- 
cern the state of the hearer's mind, is best qualified 
to touch those chords of thought and feeling in the 
soul which vibrate for eternity. Let me also say 

Q2 



186 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

that in those depths of Christian experience in 
which the soul not only communes with God, but 
with itself, is this wisdom most effectually gained. 

5. Once more. He that would possess the 
"tongue of the learned" must seek special wisdom 
from above for this high qualification. Reader, 
you have consecrated your body and spirit to Christ, 
have you not ] Have you ever made a particular 
and special consecration of jour tongue to Him] 
Have you ever sought the special baptism of the 
Spirit in respect to the use of this one member ? 
How else can you " open your mouth with wis- 
dom, and on your tongue be the law of kindness V* 

REMARKS. 

1. We are now prepared for a distinct under- 
standing of the precept, " Let your speech be al- 
ways with grace, seasoned with salt." Salt was 
anciently considered as an emblem of wisdom, on 
account of its well known effects in preventing 
corruption taking place, and on account of its com- 
municating a pleasing relish to the various kinds 
of food with which it was mingled. So, when a 
thought is uttered which is recognized as best 
adapted to answer a great and benevolent end, it is 
embalmed in the memory as infinitely beautiful 
and valuable. Its beautiful fitness, on account of 
the time and circumstances of its appearance, im- 
presses it indelibly on our minds. Thus it is pre- 
served, just as salt preserves from corruption, that 
to which it is applied. This, then, is the meaning 
of the Apostle. Let your speech be the genuine 
language of true wisdom, purity, and love, and let 
it be characterized by such manifest fitness on ac- 
count of its wise adaptation to circumstances of 
time, place, &c, that the truth uttered, shall be 
forever preserved fresh in the mind of the hearer, 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 187 

there to exert its hallowed, sanctifying influence. 
Does your speech, reader, bear this characteristic'? 

2. An indispensable qualification to preach the 
gospel of Christ, next demands our attention. 
" The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the 
learned, that I should knoiv how to speak a word in 
season to him that is iceary." I would rather pos- 
sess this one qualification, than to have my name 
sound like a war trumpet to the ends of the earth. 
"Without it, I know, that I have never been anoint- 
ed of Christ to preach His gospel. When will He 
ever have such a ministry as this % When will 
His watchmen be able to say in truth, each one for 
himself, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; 
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good 
tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind 
up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
captives, and the opening of the prison to them 
that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year 
of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; 
to comfort all that mourn. ,, 

3. We have, in the light of this subject, a proper 
standard by which to judge of discourses from the 
pulpit. The great question is this : Are they, on 
account of a wise adaptation to the state of the 
public mind, fitted to meet the wants of the 
hearer ] A discourse may contain nothing but 
truth, it may be well arranged, executed, and deliv- 
ered, and yet be utterly powerless, for want of 
adaptation. On the other hand, a discourse want- 
ing in many of the respects just named, may pos- 
sess great efficacy, because it bears the character- 
istic of " a word fitly spoken." The want of this 
wise adaptation is the great reason, as it appears 
to me, why a vast majority of discourses are as 
" sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.'' 

.4. We may now give a correct explanation of 



188 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

the maxim, " There is a time to keep silence, and a 
time to speak." It is a time to keep silence, when 
circumstances of time and place are such, that the 
truth uttered would not have the characteristic of a 
" word fitly spoken." It is a " time to speak," 
when the hearer's mind is in a state favorable to 
receive the impress of the truth, and when attend- 
ing circumstances conspire to open an avenue for 
the truth to his heart. True benevolence, guided 
by wisdom, is eagle-eyed to discern such opportu- 
nities, and never suffers them to pass unimproved. 

5. Many individuals have adopted the principle, 
that they have done their duty, if they have barely 
spoken to others on the subject of religion, and that 
they have sinned, if they have refrained from speak- 
ing. This, as we see, is a great mistake. We have 
done our duty in this respect, if we have in the best 
manner possible to us, improved every Jit opportu- 
nity for speaking. We have grievously sinned, if 
we have let slip any such opportunity. Reader, 
how stands your account with God, and with souls, 
in this particular 1 

6. Individuals, as we now see, sometimes form 
very unwise resolutions in regard to speaking to 
others on the subject of religion. I have sometimes 
heard purposes of this kind avowed : 1 will never 
suffer an impenitent person to come into my pres- 
ence, without speaking to him about his soul. A 
resolution more unwise than this could not possibly 
be formed. On the other hand, suppose every true 
Christian were to form such a purpose as this : I 
will never suffer a fit opportunity to speak for Christ, 
to pass unimproved, and will, by fervent prayer, 
diligent use of means, and by faith in Christ, seek 
every qualification requisite to discover such oppor- 
tunities, and to improve them in the best possible 
manner. Let such purposes be universally formed, 



A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. 189 

and, by grace, steadily adhered to, and this world 
would soon become as the garden of the Lord. The 
desert of sin would bloom as Eden. 

And now, reader, I have prepared this discourse 
for the single purpose of bringing this momentous 
subject distinctly before your mind, and impress- 
ing it upon your heart. I ask not what you have 
done heretofore, but what will you do in future ] 
Shall not Christ take full possession of every mem- 
ber of your body and mind ] Shall your heart and 
tongue now be his ] Will you not now receive of 
his Spirit, that the aspirations of your heart, to 
which your tongue shall give utterance, shall hence- 
forth be " like apples of gold in pictures of silver V 7 
" By thy tcords shalt thou be justified, and by thy 
words shalt thou be condemned.' ' 



SERMON X. 
CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day ; lest 
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. — Hebrews, 
iii., 13. 

The proper meaning of the term exhort, is ad- 
monish. So it is rendered by Prof. Stuart. It in- 
cludes, among other things of a kindred nature, 
reproof and exhortation to repentance for sin com- 
mitted, admonition to the performance of duty, and 
warning against temptations to future disobedi- 
ence. What I said in the last discourse, has, I 
hope, prepared the way for a consideration of the 
subject which I design to illustrate in this — the 
duty of Christian admonition. As introductory to 
what I purpose to say, I would desire the atten- 
tion of the reader to the following preliminary ob- 
servations : 

1. The duty of Christian admonition is devolved 
upon us by a positive command of God. We can 
no more neglect this duty without sin, than we can 
cease to " love God with all our hearts, and our 
neighbor as ourselves," without sin. 

2. This duty is devolved upon us as the business 
of every day — " Exhort one another daily." The 
individual who lives from day to day in the neglect 
of this duty, is as certainly living in the habitual 
practice of known sin, as the individual who is in 
the constant commission of theft, adultery, or pro- 
fane swearing. 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 191 

3. The importance attached, in the text, to the 
faithful discharge of this duty, is no less than the 
eternal salvation or destruction of the soul — "Lest 
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness 
of sin." 

4. The sacredness and importance of this duty, 
will also be obvious from a contemplation of the 
various relations in life which mankind are called 
to sustain to each other. Why are we called to 
sustain the endearing relations of husband and wife, 
parent and child, and members of the household of 
faith ] Why are mankind associated together as 
families and communities, and why are all the bu- 
siness transactions of life so ordered in providence, \ 
that we are thrown into perpetual intercommuni- 
cation with each other ] It is, that we may dis- 
charge the duty of admonition, as we are journey- 
ing home to eternity. In this perpetual intercom- 
munication, the condition, necessities, and duties 
of each are disclosed to the other, and thus the sa- 
cred obligation of mutual admonition, stands con- 
tinually revealed. In further discoursing on this 
subject, we will consider — 

I. The state of mind necessary to a proper 

DISCHARGE OF THIS DUTY. 

II. Some of the circumstances, in which 
Christian admonition, in some form, is espe- 
cially CALLED FOR. 

III. The different modes, in which, as cir- 
cumstances REQUIRE, THE DUTY OF ADMONITION IS 
TO BE PERFORMED. 

IV. Circumstances which import to Chris- 
tian ADMONITION THE HIGHEST EFFICIENCY. 

I. The state of mind necessary to a proper dis- 
charge of this duty. 

1. The first and indispensable condition is this 



192 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

y — a lieart set upon the sanctrfication of the church 
and the salvation of lost men. Every Christian 
should contemplate himself, as set apart, and anoint- 
ed of God, to secure this result by every effort in 
his power. For this end, he is to "live, and move, 
and have his being." Without this state of mind, 
no duty is acceptably discharged. Without it, no 
individual, especially, can admonish a brother, with 
acceptance to God, or with any rational hope of 
success. Without it, no individual will discover 
the proper time, occasion, means, and manner in 
which a duty so sacred, and yet so delicate, shall 
be discharged. The great question then with you, 
reader, is this : Are you in this hallowed state of 
mind ] Have you set yourself apart for the work 
of the Lord, to do all in your power to sanctify the 
church, and save lost men ? Has Christ accepted 
the consecration, and given you his Spirit for the 
accomplishment of the duties of your sacred call- 
ing] 

2. With a heart set upon the sanctification of the 
church and the salvation of sinners, another condi- 
tion indispensable to the discharge of the duty of 

V Christian admonition, is this — special wisdom must 
be sought from above, in respect to the means of 
accomplishing this result. Under the influence of 
such wisdom, whenever Christian admonition is 
such a means, the mind will readily apprehend the 
fact, together with the time, manner, and circum- 
stances in which it may most effectually be em- 
ployed. 

3. No individual is in a proper state of mind in 
reference to the discharge of this duty, who does 
not contemplate it as the business of every day. 
Whenever you come into the presence of a be- 
liever in Christ, you are required, if opportunity 

i presents, to say and do something to make him a 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 193 

more holy man, and if in the presence of a sinner, 
to bring him to repentance. With a sacred refer- 
ence to this end, all our intercourse with our 
fellow-men, is to be ordered. " Let your speech 
be always with grace, seasoned with salt;" that 
is, let your entire intercourse with men, be so 
ordered, that it shall tend to their sanctification ./ 
and salvation. In other words still, let it be so 
ordered, that it shall be a perpetual admonition to 
them, of what they ought to know, to do, and 
to be. 

4. We should always enter upon this duty with 
much and fervent p&ay^er for divine influence, illu- 
mination, and direction. Who, without great care, 
should presume to touch those chords in the soul, 
whose vibrations are for eternal weal or woe % This, 
reader, is holy ground. Yet we must tread it, or 
lose our own souls. But when we do it, we should 
have the assurance that the spirit and influence 
under which we act, is divine, and the wisdom by 
which we are guided, is above our own. God 
knows perfectly the state of every mind which is 
to be the subject of our admonition. How impor- 
tant that we be guided by his unerring wisdom, so 
that what we say, shall be "a word in season," "a 
word fitly spoken." 

5. The individual who would effectually dis- 
charge the duty of Christian admonition, must him- 
self, continually " walk_witk..God." There must 

'be a direct and continued inteixOffimunication be- 
s^ tween his own and the Spirit of Christ. He must 
fully understand in his own blessed experience, / 
" what are the riches of the glory of this mystery, V 
which is Christ in you the hope of glory." When 
an individual is in that state of mind, there is a 
sweetness in his severity, a hallowed beauty about 
his solemn reproofs and exhortations, and a kind 
R 



194 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

of heaven, even in his mirth, which renders all his 
intercourse with others, a perpetual admonition to 
love, to faith, to repentance for past sin, and to fu- 
ture obedience, and renders that admonition almost 
irresistibly attractive and influential. On the other 
hand, when he is not in this state, he is certain, al- 
most, to mingle something of his own spirit with 
the admonition, in such a manner, as to turn the 

I " grace" which would otherwise " flow from his 

\ lips," into bitterness. 

II. Consider some of the circumstances, in which 
Christian admonition in some form, is especially 
called for. 

1. Whenever a brother or sister is about to enter 
/ upon any important enterprise, an enterprise in which 
great spiritual interests are involved. Under such 
circumstances, we should seek an opportunity to 
remind him of the vast interests pending, to admon- 
ish him of the infinite responsibilities thrown upon 
him, in such a crisis, to show himself a faithful ser- 
vant of the cross, and to assure him that we shall 
bear his case with special urgency at the throne of 
grace. Admonition should always, and especially 
here, be directed with a special reference to the 
f character of the individual, and the peculiar cir- 
cumstances in which he is called to act. If, for 
example, he is naturally timid, and the crisis one 
which calls for great courage and decision, we 
should remind him that God expects his servants 
to be "strong and very courageous," and not "to 
fear, though the earth be removed, and the moun- 
tains carried into the midst of the sea." If his 
" faith is likely to fail," we should remind him of 
the speciality and infinite fullness of the grace of 
Christ, which was provided, and is now proffered 
with special reference to this particular crisis. If 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 195 

strong temptations to pride will present themselves, 
we should remind him of the fact, that we shall 
with peculiar interest remember him in prayer, 
that he may stand behind the cross, and hold up, 
not himself, but Christ. If circumstances are like- 
ly to arise, which strongly tend to provoke his spir- 
it, we should remind him that it will be a subject 
of special prayer with us, that he may put on the 
meekness and gentleness of Christ. 

2. When an individual is about to enter into 
new, and to him, untried relations in life. We 
should then remind him of the infinite importance 
of making a new and special consecration of him- 
self to Christ, in this new relation. We should 
put him in remembrance of the fact, that as new 
duties arise, new and special grace is required; 
that the grace which sufficed under other circum- 
stances, will not suffice now. We should solemnly 
admonish him to appropriate by faith, the special 
grace which Christ now proffers, and by availing 
himself of which, he may, in this new relation, 
"serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly 
fear." 

3. When any important work is to be done, in 
the performance of which the mutual cooperation 
of the friends of Christ is demanded. Suppose, 
for example, that a church is about to make a 
united and special effort for the revival of God's 
work in the sanctification of His people and the 
salvation of sinners. How important now the duty 
of mutual admonition, that every stumbling-block 
may be removed, that the way of the Lord may 
be fully prepared in all hearts, that the entire " sac- 
ramental host" may be brought to stand, " each in 
his proper place," waiting for the sudden " coming 
to His temple of the messenger of the covenant, 
whom we delight in," and " ready for every good 



196 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

word and work." "When the duty of mutual ad- 
monition is affectionately and faithfully discharged 
under such circumstances, the " heavens will drop 
down righteousness," and the " salvation of Zion 
will go forth as a lamp that burnetii." If this duty 
is not discharged, the work of God will be marred, 
and Zion will be left as a " heath in the desert, that 
seeth not when good cometh." 

4. When an individual has come, or is about 
w to come into circumstances of strong temptation. 

Then it is of infinite moment that he receive ad- 
monition in respect to the nature of the temptation, 
to the importance of great watchfulness and prayer, 
and of special faith to appropriate the grace of 
Christ necessary to " stand in the evil day." " A 
word in season," at such a crisis, " may save a soul 
from death, and hide a multitude of sins." 

5. When individuals are seen to be under influ- 
ences particularly favorable to their s an ctifi cation 

7 or salvation. Then a word of kind and earnest 
admonition should be given in respect to the inter- 
ests involved in the present crisis, and the great 
importance of its right improvement. The entire 
destiny of the immortal spirit may depend upon 
" a word fitly spoken," at such a time. 

6. When an individual is known to be under the 
special strivings of the Spirit. A word of solemn 
and appropriate admonition, just as the crisis of the 
soul is quivering on the beam, often turns the scale 
of destiny, and a redeemed spirit, which would 
otherwise have wandered in the shades of eternal 
night, takes its place among the morning stars, to 
" shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as 
the stars forever and ever." Reader, how can 
you meet a soul at the judgment, whom you have, 
at such a crisis, failed to admonish % 

^ 7. When a brother has fallen into sin. At such 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 197 

a time the solemn command should be held in spe- 
cial remembrance, " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke \/ 
thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." Nor 
should the admonition be long delayed. Who 
would not prefer to have the artillery of the uni- 
verse pointed at him, rather than suffer a single 
sin, for a single minute, to lie upon his conscience 
unrepented of and unforgiven ] Equally unwilling 
should we be to see the same fearful curse lie upon 
the conscience of a neighbor, especially a brother 
in Christ. 

8. When a brother has come under an influence 

by which he is likely to be drawn into some delusion. \S 
Here every thing depends upon the admonition 
being in time. There is a point in the progress 
of all fatal delusions, beyond which all reasoning, 
all admonition, will, with infallible certainty, fail 
of their effect. The deluded soul is "drowned in 
.destruction and perdition." " None that go there 
return again, neither take they hold of the paths 
of life." But a word of affectionate exhortation, 
before the fatal step, is taken, may prevent the end- 
less train of evils that would otherwise ensue. 

9. Once more : When an individual needs to be 
drawn under an influence which would be likely y 
to result in his sanctification or salvation. The 
salvation of a soul often depends upon his hearing, 

at a given time, a particular truth, and the fact 
whether he hears it or not, may depend upon the 
kind admonition of a friend, who knows its value. 
In a revival in an eastern city, more than twenty 
individuals joined one particular church, who, in 
the relation of their Christian experience, disclosed 
the fact, that they were drawn to hear the truth, 
which by the Spirit was rendered effectual to their 
salvation, by the kind and earnest solicitation of a v 
single sister in Christ ; that but for her solicitations 
r2 



198 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

they would not have attended to " the word of 
hearing" at all, and would then have been in their 
sins. 

Another sister called upon a friend, who had 
been educated in error, to solicit her to attend, for 
an evening, at the house of God, where the waters 
of life were flowing. The request was repelled 
with scorn. It was repeated again with the same 
result. Nine times, if I mistake not, she repeated 
her calls, to renew her earnest solicitations, and 
with the same result. The tenth time she was 
successful, and the hearing of the truth, in that 
one instance, resulted in the conversion of that 
soul to God. " In due time ye shall reap, if ye 
faint not." 

I have given the above as examples of the in- 
stances in which Christian admonition is imperi- 
ously demanded, and as way -marks to guide the 
reader in the discharge of this solemn duty. The 
way is now prepared to consider — 

III. The different modes in which, as circum- 
stances require, the duty of admonition is to be per- 
formed. 

1. Sometimes, and not unfrequently, simply and 
exclusively by the light of a correct example on our 
part. Many instances occur in which we are brought 
into such relations to others, that our example, if 
conformed to the laws of God, and of our own being, 
while theirs is not, will stand in visible and impres- 
sive contrast with the line of conduct which they 
pursue. In such circumstances it often happens, 
that silent example placed in distinct visibility be- 
fore the mind, will be the most impressive and 
influential admonition that we can possibly render, 
much more influential than if accompanied with 
words. I once, for example, met a very useful 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 199 

brother in the ministry, who had adopted habits in 
respect to food and drink, which, though common, 
were very injurious to his health, and consequently 
to his usefulness. When we met at table, my ex- 
ample was in marked contrast with his. When 
questioned on the subject, I was careful to state 
the great benefits which I had received in conse- 
quence of a change in my habits, especially in the 
particulars in which he was suffering. On account 
of the peculiar relations which I sustained to him, 
nothing was said by way of direct admonition. A 
mutual friend, however, was earnestly solicited to 
speak with him on the subject, as opportunity should 
occur. A few weeks subsequent I received the 
pleasing intelligence, that the habits of that brother 
were in all respects corrected, as I desired. This 
intelligence, however, was accompanied with a 
severe rebuke from him, because I had, without 
uttering a syllable of admonition, repeatedly wit- 
nessed him in the indulgence of habits so injurious. 
I had given, as he thought, a poor exemplification 
of the principles which I professed. I returned the 
reply, that I had gained the end upon the attain- 
ment of which I had prayerfully set my heart. 
In this I would rejoice, " though the more I loved 
him, the less I was loved by him." Cases like the 
above not unfrequently occur, and we should ask 
wisdom from above to " discover the times and the 
seasons." 

2. Admonition may often be most effectually ad- 
ministered through the agency of a second person. 
If I find that another person has more influence 
than myself over the individual that needs admoni- 
tion, and especially in respect to the point where 
it is demanded, I should at once seek to avail 
myself of his agency, while I carry the case to a 
" throne of grace." 



200 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

3. The best form of admonition is often this : the 
putting into the hand of the individual some book, 
tract, or publication which treats upon the subject 
upon which admonition is needed. This should be 
done with a kind request that he will give the sub- 
ject an attentive, candid, and prayerful examina- 
tion. How often is a soul " saved from death," by 
such simple means as this. 

4. The last mode of admonition that I mention 
is this : kindly speaking ourselves, as opportunity 
presents itself. This is the form of the duty espe- 
cially referred to in the text. For its neglect we 
shall stand without excuse at the judgment. One 
inquiry more of great importance presents itself, to 
wit — 

IV. Circumstances which impart to Christian ad- 
monition the highest efficiency. 

Among these I mention the following: — 

1. A character in visible and uniform conformity 
to the spirit and principles of the gospel. There 
are individuals (such is the beauty of holiness 
uniformly reflected in their example), into whose 
presence I never come, without being, by their 
presence, even without any thing being said on 
spiritual subjects, sensibly admonished to renewed 
love, faith, humility, purity, and purposes of obe- 
dience. Indeed, even the remembrance of them 
has about it a hallowed savor, which sweetly draws 
the soul to the heart of Christ. When such persons 
address a word of admonition to us, who has power 
to resist it] If you, reader, would speak for Christ 
with effect, seek, and by grace obtain the possession 
of such a character. 

2. With a character for piety, an established rep- 
utation for what may properly be called Christian 
prudence imparts great efficacy to Christian admo- 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 201 

nition. An individual who is in the habit of speak- 
ing out of time, and season, and. in improper circum- 
stances, soon acquires a character in the estimation 
of others, which renders inefficacious whatever he 
may say on any particular occasion, though in this 
instance ever so well ordered in respect to manner 
and place. On the other hand, an individual who 
uniformly speaks with a wise adaptation to charac- 
ter, state of mind, and circumstances of time and 
place, soon establishes a reputation for Christian 
prudence, which secures an attentive and candid 
hearing when he speaks, and consequently imparts 
the greatest efficacy to all his admonitions. Now, 
reader, the truth which I wish to have impressed 
upon your heart is this. You are bound to possess 
such a reputation. This reputation you can not * 
acquire by aiming to acquire it, but, by actually | 
speaking for Christ through wisdom obtained from j 
above, according to the dictates of Christian pru- 
dence. 

3. A wise adaptation to circumstances of time, 
place, character, and state of mind, in each partic- 
ular instance, is another requisite of Christian ad- 
monition, necessary to impart to it the highest 

efficacy. Capt. C , while abroad upon the 

ocean, and in a state of impenitency, read the little 
work on Christian Perfection, which I gave to the 
public some years since. While reading, he said 
to himself, " This religion, if I possessed it, would 
be worth the universe to me." With these im- 
pressions he returned to Boston, and immediately 
attended upon the ministry of Brother Finney, 
where he soon obtained peace in believing. He 
went among his friends on shore, and abroad upon 
the ocean, proclaiming everywhere the full salva- 
tion of Christ. In all the ports which he has since 
visited, his vessel has been known as a " Floating 



202 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

Bethel." He recently returned to Boston, with 
his entire crew, I believe, hopefully converted to 
Christ. In a meeting for prayer, he requested the 
brethren of the church with which he was connect- 
ed, to unite with him in thanksgiving to God, that 
every day, with two exceptions, when his vessel 
lay much of the time on her beam's end in a furious 
tempest, the morning and evening sacrifice had 
ascended to God on board of his ship, and that God 
had given him the hearts of all his crew. At the 
same time, he would not have them suppose, that 
in every instance he had fully exemplified, during 
his absence, the full salvation of Christ, which was 
so dear to his and their hearts. In one instance, 
while in a state of great exhaustion, during a tedious 
storm, he, for a moment, indulged and gave utter- 
ance to feelings of irritation. Soon after, the cook, 
a colored man, recently converted, I believe, came 
to him, and with great simplicity and Christian 
sincerity, said : " Captain, was that like Christ ? I 
am very ignorant, but I want to know if Christ 
would have spoken just as you did then V His 
} heart was melted and subdued at once. He called 
I the crew below, and there, with tears of penitence, 
confessed his wrong. Then as they all kneeled 
1 together in prayer, the full salvation of Christ 
' flooded the ship. All hearts were filled. It was 
the " pretty and sweet manner," of that admo- 
nition, together with its adaptation to circum- 
stances of time and place, which gave it such 
a subduing efficacy. The same is true in all in- 
stances. 

4. Admonition should always be accompanied 
with deep-felt and humble confession of sin, on our 
part, if any are known which may serve as stum- 
bling-blocks. "Without this, in such a case, all that 
we may say will be worse than useless. 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 203 



REMARKS. 



1. We notice the spirit with which admonition 
should be received, when we ourselves are the sub- 
jects of it. Sometimes we may be admonished to 
repent of sins of which we are conscious we are 
not guilty. Whether this be so or not, kind ad- 
monition should be regarded by us as one of the 
strongest proofs of brotherly love. It should bind 
our hearts to his who administers it, as to that of a 
"brother, and sister, and mother.' , He is " doing 
the will of his Father in heaven," in one of the most 
important departments of Christian duty. 

2. We notice among the most sacred obligations 
which Christ has devolved upon His people, a duty 
in the discharge of which the church is of all oth- 
ers most deficient. It is the duty of Christian ad- 
monition. For myself, I contemplate with horror, 
the vows which the church voluntarily, and most 
solemnly and sacredly assumes, in respect to every 
convert that she receives into her bosom, when I 
think of the manner in which these vows are ful- 
filled. In that solemn covenant, the entire church 
pledges to the convert, the most kind and assidu- 
ous supervision of all his spiritual interests, that she 
will watch over and admonish him in the Lord, 
and by all the means in her power, seek his peace 
and edification. But how is that covenant subse- 
quently regarded ? When the convert is in cir- 
cumstances of temptation, who feels obligated 
particularly to caution him, and stir him up to 
watchfulness and prayer? When he is weak, to 
strengthen him ? When he is afflicted, to comfort 
him ] When he " errs from the truth, to correct 
him ?" When he is likely to forget, to •" stir up 
his pure mind, by way of remembrance ?" And 
when his reputation is assailed, to " share his re- 



204 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

proach 1" Is not the church " hardened against 
her young, as though they were not hers ?" How 
ready are Jier members to "take up an evil report 
against a brother" — how ready to suspect him of 
wrong, or to question the purity of his motives ] 
But let us bring the subject home to our own hearts, 
reader. How stands the dread account with you 
and me, in respect to this sacred department of 
Christian duty ] 

3. We now perceive one of the chief sources 
of discord and division in the churches of Christ. 
Where the duty of Christian admonition is faith- 
fully discharged in the " bonds of Christ," there 
the " unity of the spirit, in the bonds of peace," 
will be preserved in all hearts. But when this is 
neglected, there is discord and " every evil work." 
The moment you cease to admonish a brother, as 
God gives you opportunity, that moment you will 
cease to love him as a brother. Continuance in 
this neglect will, ere long, render him as a stranger 
and a foreigner to your heart. 

4. It may be well for us now to stop a moment, 
and contemplate an important test of Christian 
character. The proper test is, practical obedience 
to all God's requirements. But when we contem- 
plate the subject in a general point of view, our 
conclusion will be, it is probable, rather indefinite. 
It would be preferable, perhaps, at times at least, 
to select some one specific command, plainly re- 
vealed and everywhere regarded as devolved upon 
us with peculiar sacredness in the Bible, and con- 
template our character in the light of that one pre- 
Gept. The text furnishes us with such a precept. 
In the word of God it is revealed with special dis- 
tinctness, and its peculiar sacredness is recognized 
in the covenants of every church, probably, on 
earth. In testing our character in the light of 



CHRISTIAN ADMONITION. 205 

such a precept, two questions naturally present 
themselves. First, What is the influence of our 
example 1 Is it a standing and impressive admo- 
nition to all who feel its power, to love, to faith, 
to purity, and consecration to Christ ] Second, 
What is the character of our direct and personal 
intercourse with our fellow-men ? Does it show 
a sacred respect to the precept, " Admonish one 
another daily ?" I feel a strong desire, hearer, to 
sit down with you, and, while none but God shall 
hear, to put the solemn question to your heart and 
conscience — How stands the dread account with 
you in the light of this plain and positive command 
of God, which you acknowledge to be so sacredly 
binding ? 

5. We perceive the occasion of the decline of 
revivals of religion. Revivals commence with a 
faithful discharge of the duty of Christian admo- 
nition. " They go from strength to strength," 
while this duty is faithfully performed. With its 
neglect they decline. This is a changeless arrange- 
ment of Divine Providence. 

6. We notice the inquiry often practically raised 
by those who are living in disregard of their most 
solemn responsibilities to their fellow-men. " Am 
I my brother's keeper V f Yes, reader, you are 
your brother's keeper. If you see evil coming 
upon your brother, and you " give him not warn- 
ing;" if he " errs from the truth," and you " suffer 
sin upon him;" if temptations beset his path, and 
you do not exhort him to watchfulness and prayer; 
if he becomes remiss in duty, and you " stir not up 
his pure mind by way of remembrance;" in short, 
if you discharge not to every one around you the 
duty of Christian admonition, " his blood will God 
require at your hands." 

7. A word to the impenitent reader, and I close. 

S 



206 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

With what feelings do you receive the word of sol- 
emn admonition, from those who seek your eternal 
peace ? How do they now appear who admonish 
you % " And he seemed as one that mocked to his 
sons-in-law." Is it so with you ] It will not always 
be so. How can you meet those in eternity, with 
whom you have lived in sin, before whom you have 
set the example of impenitence, and whom you 
have never admonished to repent ? How will you 
then regard the voice of solemn admonition which 
you now despise ? 

11 When the harvest is past, and the summer is gone ; 

And sermons and prayers shall be o'er ; 
When the beams cease to break of the sweet Sabbath mom, 

And Jesus invites thee no more ; 
When the rich gales of mercy no longer shall blow, 

The gospel no message declare ; 
Sinner, how canst thou bear the deep wailings of woe ! 

How suffer the night of despair ! 

When the holy have gone to the regions of peace, 

To dwell in the mansions above ; 
When their harmony wakes in the fullness of bliss, 

Their song to the Savior they love ; 
Say, O sinner, that livest at rest and secure, 

Who fearest no trouble to come, 
Can thy spirit the swellings of sorrow endure ? 

Or bear the impenitent's doom '" 



SERMON XL 

DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THE 
DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 

Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that 
God should raise the dead? — Acts, xxvi., 8. 

Almost every truth with which men are not fa- 
miliar, encounters this one difficulty, when first 
presented to their minds, that it wears the appear- 
ance, not only of strangeness, but of incredibility. 
What is more familiar, or reasonable and credible 
with us than the doctrine of the resurrection I In 
a very different light would it stand before our 
minds were we called to listen to it for the first 
time. The speaker might have the same occasion 
to put the question to us, that Paul had to Agrippa: 
" Why should it be thought a thing incredible with 
you, that God should raise the dead V How strange 
and incredible the doctrine of Perfect Love appears, 
to individuals not familiar with it, and who have not 
been taught of G-od to understand it ! They seem 
inclined to say, "If God should make windows in 
heaven, then might these things be." What if we 
should present it in the form in which the Apostle 
presented the doctrine of the resurrection? "Why 
should it be thought a thing incredible with you 
that God should," by his grace and Spirit, "sancti- 
fy a believer wholly," and cause him to "stand per- 
fect and complete in all his holy will]" If God has 
\ provided grace, and given his Holy Spirit to make 
v that grace effectual to that result, why should it be 



208 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

thought incredible that a believer in Jesus should 
realize that result in his own experience ] This 
doctrine, on that supposition, becomes most rea- 
sonable, most credible. The opposite doctrine be- 
comes most unreasonable and incredible. The 
difficulties all lie on one side. This leads me to 
the subject to be illustrated in the present dis- 
course, to wit : — 

The difficulties connected with the doc- 
trine of Imperfection. 

These difficulties, to a consideration of which 
special attention is invited, will be found to be 
such as to be entirely fatal to that doctrine. 

1. The first that I notice, is found in the cove- 
nants of the churches. The Church Covenant is an 
oath, voluntarily assumed, in the " presence of 
God, of angels, and of men." So it is universally 
regarded. But what, Christian, does your cove- 
nant pledge you, in a manner so fearfully solemn, 
to do 1 Turn to Ex., xxxiv., 27, 28, and you will 
see. " And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou 
these words : for after the tenor of these words, I 
have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 
And he was there with the Lord forty days and 
forty nights ; he did neither eat bread nor drink 
water : and he wrote upon the tables the words of 
the covenant, the ten commandments." This is 
God's covenant, a covenant to do our entire duty, 
or to be in a state of entire sanctification, or in the 
continued exercise of Perfect Love. And this 
covenant is embraced in all its fullness, in the 
covenant of every evangelical church on earth. If 
any church should lower her covenant so as not to 
embrace all this, as a few are said to have done of 
late, she would cease to be in covenant with God. 
For this is the covenant which He has prescribed. 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 209 

Now there are two positions which have been taken 
by the different schools in theology on this subject. 

The brethren of the Old School maintain, that it 
is a natural impossibility, even " from any grace 
received in this life" to keep the covenant. Ac- 
cording to this view of the subject, the convert \ 
takes a solemn oath " in the presence of God, of 
angels, and of men," to perform an acknowledged 
impossibility ! Reader, what do you think of that] 
What would you think, if a witness, in a court of 
justice, should take an oath to perform what he 
and all the court knew and acknowledged to be 
an impossibility ? Would not that be perjury ] 
This is what all the church do, according to the 
doctrine of the Old School. This is the difficulty 
in which the doctrine of Imperfection is involved, 
according to the teaching of that school. How can 
that difficulty be evaded? How can a doctrine 
stand, when it is seen to be involved in such a dif- 
ficulty as this ] 

The brethren of the New School, on the other 
hand, maintain, that this covenant may be kept, 
that grace fully adequate is proffered to us in the 
gospel, to keep it, and that it is " better not to 
vow, than to vow and not pay." They then pledge 
the convert, under oath, to keep that covenant. At 
the same time, they require him to hold it as a re- 
vealed truth of God, that he will not keep it, and 
that it is a dangerous error to expect to do it him- 
self, or to believe that any Christian ever did, or 
ever will, in this life, keep it. In other words, 
they require the convert to take an oath, " in the 
presence of God, of angels and of men," to keep 
the covenant, with the avowed expectation of not 
keeping it. What is perjury if this is not? Where, 
too, shall we look for the perfection of absurdity, 
if not here ? And what must be the influence upon 
s2 



210 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

the convert's mind, of such an oath, in connection 
with such an expectation ] Is he not thereby pre- 
pared to violate that covenant almost without com- 
punction] Can we conceive of a more fatal snare 
for his soul? The very first act which he performs, 
in connection with the church, is an act of perjury, 
an act performed with the expectation of, ever after, 
daily repeating it in " thought, word, and deed." 

2. Another difficulty is found in the prayers of 
the church. All Christians admit that the Bible 
authorizes and requires us to pray for grace to 
exercise Perfect Love ; that it assures us, when we 
thus pray, that God is able to bestow that grace 
upon us, and authorizes us to expect " exceeding 
abundantly above all that we ask or think." With 
all these facts before us, the advocates of the doc- 
trine of Imperfection maintain that we are required 
to pray for grace to " stand perfect and complete in 
all the will of God," expecting nojt to receive the 
grace for which we pray. Now here the following 
difficulties look us directly in the face, and it does 
appear to me, would look any man out of counte- 
nance, who should, in their presence, attempt to 
maintain this doctrine. 

(1.) The absurdity, which praying under such cir- 
cumstances, and attended with such expectation, in- 
volves. A western synod were about to pass some 
\ strong resolutions against the doctrine of Perfect 
« Love. A member of the body, an elder of leading 
influence, arose and remarked, that before passing 
resolutions so solemn and important, they ought, 
as it appeared to him, to spend a season in prayer. 
He then proposed that the brother who had intro- 
duced the resolutions should lead in the exercise. 
The brother rose and prayed that " the very God 
of peace would sanctify them wholly, and preserve 
their whole spirit, and soul, and body, blameless 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 211 

unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." At 
the close of the solemn appeal to the throne of 
grace, the elder rose again and remarked, that he 
now,, as he believed, understood the real difference 
between the synod and the brethren they were about 
to condemn. Those brethren maintain that we are 
bound to pray for grace to exercise Perfect Love, 
expecting to receive the grace for which we pray. 
This expectation the synod were now about to pro- 
nounce a dangerous delusion. They were about 
to resolve that we are required to pray for such 
grace, expecting|notJto receive the blessing. He 
would ask the synod if it became them, as the 
standard-bearers of the " sacramental host," to 
pass such resolutions. After a short pause, the 
resolutions were laid on the table, never, it is 
hoped, to be taken up again. The difficulties 
presented looked them all out of countenance. 
Such is the absurdity which looks every man in 
the face who prays, as all are required to do, for 
entire sanctification, and yet holds the doctrine of 
Imperfection. 

(2.) The moral tendency of thus praying, presents 
another inexplicable difficulty. Suppose a parent 
were to require a child to present daily a special 
request for a particular blessing, that he distinctly 
informs the child that he is able to grant his request 
and to do "exceeding abundantly above all that he 
asks or thinks," and then should inform the child 
that he is changelessly determined not to grant his 
request. Could a child possibly continue to love 
a parent under such circumstances ] In precisely 
such a relation to Himself has our Father in heav- 
en brought all his children, if, as the doctrine of 
Imperfection affirms, God requires us to pray for 
grace to exercise Perfect Love, expecting not to 
receive that grace. Header, can you believe that 



212 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

God has done any such thing 1 If so, has He not 
rendered it necessary that we should all be " mock- 
ers' ' when we pray, and thus our " bands be made 
strong V 

(3.) If God has revealed the fact that grace to 
exercise Perfect Love, is never, in this life, to be giv- 
en, in answer to prayer, such grace as is expressly 
j taught in such passages as Jer., vii., 16, and 1 John, 
\ v., 16, is not an object of prayer. The fact, then, 
that we are required to pray for such grace, is dem- 
onstration of the fact that it lies within the circle 
of rational hope. But it is said by the advocates 
of the doctrine of Imperfection, we do pray for en- 
tire sanctification, expecting to receive it, that is, 
when we die. Then pray for entire sanctification 
in the article of death. The absurdity consists in 
praying for present sanctification, expecting, not as 
the Bible requires, " even more than we ask or 
think," but less than we ask or think. 

3. Another^difficulty is suggested by the revealed 
provisions and promises of grace, for the sanctifica- 
tion of Christians in this life. Here also, two posi- 
tions have been taken by the two Schools in The- 
ology above referred to. The brethren of the Old 
School deny that provisions and promises for the 
entire sanctification of Christians in this life are 
revealed in the gospel. The brethren of the New 
School admit and affirm the full adequacy of the 
revealed provisions and promises, and yet deny (a 
denial which, the brethren of the Old School affirm, 
involves the highest absurdity), that a state of en- 
tire sanctification, in this life, is an object of rational 
hope. 

Now the difficulty in which the position of the 
Old School involves us, is a palpable contradiction 
of the plainest possible teachings of inspiration. I 
will cite but two or three passages as examples. 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 213 

" He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, 
that we, being dead to sin, might live to righteous- 
ness." To be " dead in sin," all evangelical de- 
nominations admit, implies total depravity. To be 
dead to sin, then, must imply perfection in holiness. 
That we might become thus dead, is the revealed 
object of Christ's death. He has, then, made 
provision for our entire sanctifi cation, or failed to 
" finish the work which the Father gave Him to 
do." Contemplate also the following command: 
" Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead in- 
deed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord." How absurd is the command 
to "reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but 
alive unto God through Jesus Christ/ 9 if pro- 
visions do not exist in Him for our becoming 
thus dead and alive, that is, for our entire sanctifi- 
cation. 

As a specimen of the promises pertaining to our 
sanctification, take this one : " And the Lord thy 
God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of 
thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and ivith all thy soul, that thou mayest live." 
The Bible affirms that "love is the fulfilling of the 
law," and that all that the law requires is, that we 
6< love God with all our heart, and with all our 
soul." We have, then, the same evidence that 
Perfect Love is proffered to our faith in the prom- 
ises, that we have that it is required in the moral 
law. This, then, is the difficulty in which the po- 
sition of the brethren of the Old School involves 
us. In taking their position, we join issue directly 
and openly with the Bible. The doctrine of Im- 
perfection can not find a resting-place here. 

The position of the brethren of the New School 
involves us, if possible, in a difficulty still greater, to 
wit, that the revealed provisions and promises of grace 



214 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

are not a foundation for rational hope. Reader, 
what do you think of that ] Was ever a position 
more abhorrent to all the hallowed convictions and 
impressions which the " glorious gospel of the 
blessed Grod" has raised in your mind, presented 
to your contemplation ] 

But this position is condemned by these breth- 
ren themselves in their preaching and instruction, 
in respect to all other subjects except this one. 
The revealed provisions and promises of grace are 
presented as a "foundation sure and steadfast," 
for the hope of pardon, salvation, yea, every bless- 
ing which they proffer to our faith, but this one, 
entire sanctification in this life. Now, why are 
they affirmed as an adequate foundation of hope in 
respect to all other blessings, and denied in respect 
to this one % No advocate of the doctrine of Im- 
perfection has yet been able to answer this ques- 
tion. I hesitate not to affirm, that no one ever will 
be able to answer it. 

But another difficulty which this position in- 
volves, here presents itself. "What must be the 
effect upon the moral sensibilities, of cherishing the 
impression, that the revealed provisions and prom- 
ises of grace, are not an adequate foundation of 
hope % Can any thing be more fatal % I would as 
soon entertain the thought that " God can lie." I 
can not conceive that the latter can be more fatal 
in its influence than the former. Now, reader, one 
of these alternatives you must take. With the Old 
School, you must deny the adequacy of the pro- 
visions and promises of grace to our sanctification 
in this life, and thus place yourself at open issue 
with the Bible : or, with the New School, maintain, 
that the revealed provisions and promises of grace 
are not an adequate foundation of hope : or else 
admit the blessed doctrine of Perfect Love. Which 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 215 

of these positions does the Bible, does reason re- 
quire you to take *? 

4. We now come to another fatal difficulty in 
which the doctrine of Imperfection is involved — 
the nature of faith according to that doctrine. 

The Bible affirms, that " without faith, it is im- 
possible to please God." When we pray, we are 
told that we must " ask in faith, nothing wavering," 
or not " expect to receive any thing of the Lord." 
What, then, is faith, and what unbelief, according 
to the doctrine of Imperfection ] Suppose an in- 
dividual, as all are required in the Bible to do, 
" bows the knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ," and that this is the burden of his prayer : 
" the very God of peace sanctify me wholly, and 
preserve my whole spirit, and soul, and body, 
blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." What would be faith, and what unbelief, 
in putting up such a prayer, according to the doc- 
trine of Imperfection ? If we put up that prayer, 
expecting to receive the blessing for which we pray, 
that is unbelief, according to this doctrine. We 
are, then, forbidden of God, to expect " to receive 
any thing of the Lord." If, on the other hand, we 
put up such a prayer, expecting not to receive the 
blessing for which we pray, we " ask in faith, nothing 
wavering." If this doctrine is true, this is faith, 
and this is unbelief in prayer. 

The nature of faith in the promises pertaining to 
sanctification in this life, is equally singular, ac- 
cording to this doctrine. An individual, we will 
suppose, appears before God, to plead such prom- 
ises as the following, as God says, that He " will 
be inquired of by this people to do it for them." 
" Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and 
from all your idols will I c'ieanse you," &c. Now, 



216 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

according to the doctrine of Imperfection, if we 
plead such promises, expecting to realize their 
present fulfillment in our experience, that is unbe- 
lief. We then " stagger at the promise of God 
through unbelief." If, on the other hand, we plead 
such promises, expecting not to realize their fulfill- 
ment in our experience, that is faith. We are then 
" strong in faith, giving glory to God." 

The same principles hold true in respect to the 
provisions of grace for our entire sanctification in 
this life. To rely upon these provisions, expect- 
ing to realize in our experience the end for which 
they were made, is unbelief. Relying upon them, 
expecting not to realize that end, is faith, accord- 
ing to the doctrine of Imperfection. Reader, is 
not this faith and unbelief, according to this doc- 
trine % Do not the advocates of this doctrine 
maintain, for example, that we are bound to pray, 
and pray in faith, for our entire sanctification in 
this life 1 Do they not also maintain, that it is not 
proper to expect to attain to that state ] So Dr. 
Woods expressly affirms. To pray, then, for en- 
tire sanctification, expecting to receive that bless- 
ing, is unbelief. To pray for it, expecting not to 
receive it, is faith. But is this the nature of faith 
and unbelief according to the Bible ] Have we 
not here an inexplicable difficulty — a difficulty from 
which the doctrine of Imperfection can not be 
extricated % 

5. Another difficulty is found in the nature of 
the argument for the truth of the Bible, from inter- 
nal evidence. This argument may be thus stated : 
That system of religion must be true, and the only 
true one, which is most favorable to moral recti- 
tude, and best adapted to meet the entire necessi- 
ties of man, as a creature, and as a sinner. The 
gospel is better adapted to produce these results, 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 217 

than any other, and all other systems. It, there- 
fore, must be true. Now, this principle, if legiti- 
mate, (and its legitimacy is universally admitted), 
is equally applicable and decisive, as a practical 
test of all the particular truths and principles of 
Christianity. Of two conflicting doctrines or prin- 
ciples, each professedly founded on the Bible, and 
but one of which can be true, that must be true 
which is most favorable to holiness, and best adapt- 
ed to meet our entire necessities as creatures and 
as sinners. Let us test the doctrines of Imperfec- 
tion and of Perfect Love by this principle. But 
one of these doctrines can be true. The other 
must be false ; and that must be true which is most 
favorable to holiness, and best adapted to our wants 
as creatures and as sinners. In one particular all 
admit that the doctrine of Perfect Love has the 
most decisive advantage, its superior adaptation to 
our necessities. Every Christian, in every prayer, 
prays in all sincerity, that this doctrine may be true, 
and the opposite doctrine false. He is fu?ly con- 
scious, that if the doctrine of Perfect Love is true, 
his "joy may be full." If the opposite doctrine is 
true, that his " joy may be full" is an impossibility. 
In this respect, we fitly say, " their rock is not as 
our rock, our enemies themselves being judges." 
In the universally acknowledged adaptation of the 
doctrine of Perfect Love to meet the fundamental 
and changeless wants of the church, we have then 
the same evidence precisely, that that doctrine is 
true, and the opposite one false, that we have that 
the gospel is true, and every other system of re- 
ligion false. 

But how stands the case so far as tendency to 

holiness is concerned ? That we are bound to 

pray for entire sanctification, and to aim at that 

state, all admit. Which is most favorable to 

T 



218 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

" effectual, fervent prayer," the expectation of ob- 
taining the object for which we pray, or the certain 
expectation of not obtaining it % Which is most 
favorable to energetic effort, the expectation of 
obtaining the object at which we aim, or the certain 
expectation of not obtaining it % What is the ver- 
dict of the reason and common sense of the human 
race % Every one knows. Nor is the Bible silent 
on this point. It affirms, that " believers are saved 
by hope." To extinguish hope, is to annihilate 
faith, and paralyze effort. This is what the doc- 
trine of Imperfection does. When we " bow the 
knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," for 
the blessing for which Christ has required us to 
pray, that doctrine comes in and annihilates the 
possibility of faith, by extinguishing hope. When 
we would aim at the standard which the Spirit of 
God has elevated, that doctrine comes in and par- 
alyzes effort, by extinguishing hope. In its funda- 
mental elements, it is a great incubus upon the 
faith and moral energies of the church. 

6. Another difficulty is found in the manifest un- 
adaptedness of the doctrine to the laws of mind, as 
universally acknowledged in all other departments 
of human action. There is not a department of 
human action in the wide world, in which the ex- 
pectation of success is not universally acknowl- 
edged to be indispensable to permanent energy of 
effort. A writer in a late political paper thus ex- 
presses the difference between can and can't: — "I 
do not know a word in the vocabulary <$f language 
that sounds so forbidding to the feelings, so stagnant 
in its effects, as the word can't. It is irreconcilable 
to any thing in morals or philosophy. It checks the 
current of life, and brings all the energies of body 
and mind into a state of lethargy; makes the pres- 
ent a cold winter's waste and desert of despair — the 



THE DOCTKINE OF IMPERFECTION. 219 

future, an inextricable wilderness, the entrance of 
which is but the opening of an interminable laby- 
rinth of darkness and woe. While upon the word 
can, faith shines with the bright, diffusive, benign 
rays of the meridian sun — wakens and cheers every 
thing into action, life, and energy — removes mount- 
ains^ — crosses trackless oceans and continents into 
unexplored regions— makes the desert teem with 
life and beauty — builds states and empires — turns 
the current of mighty streams — opens canals and 
builds railroads — erects temples, the spiritual guide- 
posts whose spires point to heaven. " The truth 
of all this is fully and universally acknowledged in 
every department of human action, with the excep- 
tion of religion. What is the doctrine of Imper- 
fection here? It is a sacred consecration, upon the 
altar of our faith, of can't, as a permanent and es- 
sential motive to energetic action. The can't of 
the Old School is natural : that of the New is 
moral ; but yet, as one of its advocates expressed 
it, " a powerless power." Both are equally para- 
lyzing within the circle of their influence. What 
right, I ask, has can't to a place upon the altar of 
our faith, relative to the commands of God, and in 
the presence of the proffered grace of the gospel % 
No more, I answer, than " swine's flesh, or the 
broth of abominable things. " Can any one tell 
us why it is that the extinguishment of hope anni- 
hilates faith, and paralyzes effort in all departments 
of human activity but religion, while here it is an 
essential element of such activity ] Till this mys- 
tery is explained, it must be regarded as a fatal 
difficulty in the way of the doctrine of Imperfec- 
tion. 

7. As another difficulty, I notice the undesigned 
testimony which the advocates of this doctrine, when 
speaking upon other subjects, are almost constantly 



220 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

giving in favor of the doctrine of Perfect Love, and 
in condemnation of the opposite doctrine. I will 
give a few examples, in illustration of the manner 
in which this testimony is given. At a great na- 
tional convention held some years since, on the 
subject of temperance, a convention attended by a 
host of ministers and laymen of leading influence, 
a resolution, embracing this affirmation, was unan- 
imously passed, that all hope of reformation to the 
drunkard is suspended upon this one principle, to 
wit, that he may set his heart upon subduing his 
appetite for strong drink with the expectation of 
success. At an annual meeting of the American 
Board, held at Philadelphia, this fact was affirmed, 
that all their efforts for the evangelizing of the na- 
tives of this country were paralyzed by the impres- 
sion so general and strong through the churches, 
that they are doomed as a race to annihilation from 
the earth. The impression weakens the efforts of 
the missionaries themselves, by extinguishing hope, 
and if not erased from the public mind, will prevent 
the salvation of that people. One of the most dis- 
tinguished professors of theology in this country 
has laid this down as a self-evident proposition, 
that the belief on the part of the sinner, that, as a 
I matter of fact, he will not repent, renders all efforts 
|io induce him to repent as absolutely powerless as 
Hhe belief that it is impossible for him to repent. 
Now who does not see, that, if the principles af- 
firmed in all the above instances are true, the doc- 
trine of Perfect Love must be true, and of most 
hallowed tendency, while the opposite doctrine 
must be false, and of most pernicious tendency 1 
What the hope of success is to the drunkard aim- 
ing at reformation, the doctrine of Perfect Love is 
to the believer struggling after entire conformity to 
the will of God. What the extinguishment of hope 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 221 

would be to the drunkard, the doctrine of Imper- 
fection is to the believer in respect to the holiness 
which God requires. So, also, in the other instances 
above named. 

But one of the most striking and decisive in- 
stances of the kind of testimony under considera- 
tion, that I have met with, is found in a paragraph 
from an article originally published in the Boston 
Recorder, and republished in the New York Evan- 
gelist. The following is one of the reasons here 
given in answer to the inquiry, "Why your prayers 
are not answered V 9 

u Perhaps you pray without expecting. Such 
prayer can not be in earnest. "What a man has no 
expectation of receiving, he can only ask for in a 
faint and feeble manner. And this not expecting, 
is a want of confidence in God. His promises are 
made for the very purpose of awakening expecta- 
tion in our hearts. It is ill treatment of (Jod^TTot 
to expect him to fulfill His own promises. An un- 
expecting appeal of prayer ought to be expecting 
a denial." 

Nov/ what testimony more strong and explicit 
could possibly be given against the doctrine of Im- 
perfection, than is here indirectly and undesignedly 
given ; testimony the more to the purpose, because 
it is undesigned % How inconsistent and absurd is 
the opposition of such men to the doctrine of Per- 
fect Love, after giving such testimony in its favor. 
Thus it is, that the advocates of the doctrine of 
Imperfection are, without intending it, continually 
throwing insuperable difficulties in the way of that 
doctrine ; difficulties which are daily becoming 
more and more palpable to the church, and to the 
world, and which renders its speedy destruction 
absolutely certain. 

8. Another difficulty in which the doctrine of 
t2 



222 THE TRUE BELIEVEE. 

Imperfection is involved, is found in the attitude 
in which the investigations of the most distinguished 
commentators, in this country and Europe, had 
placed the doctrine, before its truth or falsity be- 
came a great question with the church. Prior to 
this event, the proof-texts on which, as admitted by 
its advocates, the doctrine rests, had been in the 
light of the universally admitted laws of interpre- 
tation, examined by learned commentators on both 
sides of the Atlantic — commentators holding this 
very doctrine. What was the result of these in- 
vestigations 1 That most of these passages, to say 
the least, have no reference to the doctrine what- 
ever. In respect to Rom. vii., for example, it has 
been found that the entire primitive church, for 
the first four or five centuries of the Christian era, 
understood the Apostle as in this passage, describ- 
ing the experience of the convicted legalist, and 
not at all of the true Christian. This same con- 
struction is now considered as demanded by all the 
correct laws of interpretation, by the entire body 
of evangelical commentators on the continent of 
Europe, by a majority, I believe, of those in Great 
Britain, and by such men as Professors Stuart and 
Robinson of this country. Nor have the arguments 
adduced by them, in favor of this construction, yet 
been refuted. The declaration of Paul, " Not as 
though I had already obtained, either were already 
perfect," was found to refer, as the context shows, 
•^p^iTot at all to perfection in holiness, but in glory, ^\ 
and consequently to have no bearing upon the ""' 
doctrine of Christian Perfection whatever. In re- 
ferring, in a conversation with the former Presi- 
dent of the Union Theological Seminary, to 1 John 
i., 8, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves," he replied at once, " I have long since 
given ud that passage, as having no bearing what- 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 223 

ever upon the subject." The term sin is some- 
times used in the sense of ill-desert, or desert of 
'punishment. This is its meaning, as the context 
shows, in this passage. Thus, in the preceding 
verse, the Apostle says, " If we walk in the light 
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin," — that is, condemnation. 
In other words, through Christ our sins are fully 
pardoned. He then adds, " If we say we have 
no sin" [to be pardoned, — that is, that the desert 
of punishment does not attach to us ; in other 
words, if we affirm, the thought repeated in verse 
10, that we have never sinned, and consequently do 
not need the grace of pardon through Christ], "we 
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 
The Apostle simply asserts, then, that all men 
are sinners, and need pardon through Christ, and 
that those who deny this truth, as the proud Jew 
did, are self-deceived. The passage has not the 
most remote reference to the doctrine of the per- 
fection or imperfection of believers in Christ. 

The same meaning, precisely, attaches to the 
declaration of Job, " If I should say I am perfect, 
it would prove me perverse." He is there speak- 
ing, not of his present character, as a sanctified man, 
— ^ but in reference to his past life. If I should assert 
my perfect freedom from desert of punishment, con- 
sequent on having, in my former life, sinned, that, 
he intends to say, would prove me a perverse man. 
Thus the " seven pillars" on which this doctrine 
has been supposed to rest, have been, one after 
another, swept away, and swept away, in most 
instances, by its own advocates, so that it has now 
not even a foundation of sand on which to rest. 
What must be the destiny of a doctrine sustaining 
such a relation as that to the Scriptures, interpreted 



224 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

according to the universally admitted laws of inter- 
pretation. 

9. I mention but one difficulty more. It is the 
manifest absurdity involved in most of the argu- 
ments in favor of the doctrine of Imperfection. I 
will cite a few as examples. 

(1.) The command, " grow in grace." To grow 
in grace implies, it is said, not present perfection in 
holiness, but a gradual approach to it. Hence the 
precept "grow in grace," requiring such approach, 
implies present imperfection. On this supposition, 
we have a positive command of God, requiring us 
to give up sin gradually, and consequently forbid- 
ding the renunciation of all sin at once. Entire 
obedience to God then, would imply disobedience 
to a positive command of the gospel. Reader, do 
you believe that % Can this be the real meaning 
of the command, " grow in grace V 

(2.) The Christian warfare, as described in the 
Bible, implies, it is said, present imperfection. If 
so, the command, " fight the good fight of faith/' 
requires us, as in the instance above named, to be 
in a state of partial disobedience to God. The 
Christian warfare, as described in the Bible, is 
war with temptation and not with sin, and implies, 
not yielding to the temptation, as is often supposed, 
but a glorious victory over it. So far as we yield 
to the temptation, we are not fighting at all as re- 
quired. We are " in captivity under the law of 
sin." " For of whatsoever a man is overcome, of 
the same is he brought into bondage." Our war- 
fare is then, not with sin, but with conscience and 
with God. How melancholy the fact, that what 
many give themselves credit for, as the " fight of 
faith," is in reality a war with conscience and with 
God. 

(3.) If the Christian were to attain to the exer- 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 225 

cise of Perfect Love, he would be taken instantly 
to heaven. Hence, existence in the body, is as- 
sumed as present Imperfection in holiness. This 
makes sin an essential element of Christian char- 
acter as a life-preserver. Sin, indeed, is the great 
life-preserver of the church. Without it, she could 
not exist at all, as the "light of the world, and the 
salt of the earth." Reader, do you believe that? 
Yet the advocates of the doctrine of Imperfection 
present it, as one of the first truths of the gospel. 
It is one of the main arguments on which that doc- 
trine rests. 

(4.) All Christians are entirely sanctified at death, 
and not before. Now entire sanctification in the 
article of death, is held without a shadow of testi- 
mony, direct or indirect, in its favor, from the Bible^^> 
Indeed, the only passage which can be supposed to 
have any bearing upon this point, proves, if it proves 
any thing in respect to it, that entire sanctification 
takes place, not at death, but, as a divine of some 
distinction in the Presbyterian church maintains, 
at the judgment. " We know that when He shall 
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him 
as He is." This passage, it is said, implies, that 
we shall attain to a perfect likeness to Christ, that 
is, to a state of entire holiness, "when Christ shall 
appear," and not before. But the appearing here 
referred to, is evidently at the final judgment, and 
consequently, it affirms, if it affirms any thing on 
this subject, entire sanctification at the judgmc^, 
and not before. The likeness here referred to, the^ 
reader should understand, is a likeness in glory. \ 
The moral likeness, which is preparatory to trTjJt, 
takes place, as the Apostle informs us, in this life. 
" But we all, with open face beholding as in a gfess 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the sime 
image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 



Spirit 



226 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

of the Lord." I have noticed but a few of the 
difficulties in which the doctrine of Imperfection 
is involved. These are sufficient, however, to show 
clearly, that that doctrine is not " founded upon a 
rock." 

REMARKS. 

1. We have, in the progress of this discourse, a 
striking illustration of the strange inconsistency of 
error. Suppose an advocate of the doctrine of 
Imperfection, were asked : whether it is proper 
to pray for any real blessing, a blessing proffered 
to us in the divine promises, without expecting to 
receive the blessing for which we pray 1 His an- 
swer would be, " Such prayer can not be in earnest. 
What a man has no expectation of receiving, he can 
ask for only in a faint and feeble manner. And 
this not expecting is a want of confidence in God. 
His promises are made for the very purpose of 
awakening expectation in our hearts. It is ill 
treatment of God not to expect Him to fulfill His 
promises. An unexpecting appeal of prayer ought 
to be expecting a denial." Ask him, whether we 
are not required to pray for entire sanctification, 
and whether grace to attain that state is not prof- 
fered to our faith in the provisions and promises 
of the gospel % His answer, in the language of 
Dr. Woods, would be, " I believe it, and always 
have believed it." " The gospel is no gospel with- 
out it," that is, without such provisions and prom- 
ises. Ask him, still further, if it is proper for us 
to pray for entire sanctification in this life, expecting 
to receive the blessing for which we pray % In the 
language of Dr. Woods, he would reply again, " It 
is not proper .to indulge such expectation." Ask 
him if he has not involved himself in a most palpa- 
ble inconsistency in what he has just said % Very 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 227 

likely he will deny that there is any inconsistency 
at all in what he has affirmed ! ! 

2. We can understand why the. gospel, which is 
" mighty, through God, to the pulling down of 
strong-holds," has apparently so little power. The 
true, and only reason, is this : Its influence has 
been neutralized by the intermingling of error with 
the truth. The doctrine of Imperfection has been 
one of the great neutralizing elements, which the 
enemy of all righteousness has thrown in, to pre- 
vent the full efficacy of the truth upon the sanctified 
heart. But blessed be God, brighter scenes are in 
prospect. The time is not distant, when error in 
all its naked deformity, and truth in all its native 
simplicity and power, will be made visible to all 
minds. Then will the " righteousness of Zion go 
forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that 
burnetii." 

3. A reply often made to two of the arguments 
above adduced, demands a passing notice here. In 
respect to what is objected against praying for en- 
tire sanctification, without expecting to receive the 
blessing for which we pray, it is said, in reply, that 
we often pray for blessings which we do not ex- 
pect to receive. We pray that all men may be 
converted, while we do not expect such a result. 
The cases, I would remark, are by no means paral- 
lel. God has never promised, in answer to prayer, 
to convert every sinner on earth. He has posi- 
tively promised, however, to " sanctify us wholly," 
on condition that He be " inquired of by us, to do 
it for us." Suppose God had given us a positive 
promise, that if we would ask it in faith, He would, in 
answer to our prayers, convert the whole world at 
once ] Could we pray acceptably for that blessing 
then, without expecting to receive it ? For the same 
reason prayer for entire sanctification, expecting 



228 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

the promises proffering this specific blessing to our 
faith, not to be fulfilled in us, is solemn mockery. 

In reply, also, to what has been here argued re- 
specting aiming to do our entire duty, expecting 
not to do it, it is said, that men often aim at what 
they know they never will nor can accomplish. A 
painter, for example, aims to produce a perfect 
picture, while he knows that he never will produce 
such a result. It might be readily shown, that 
the painter does not aim, that is, intend, to produce 
\ a perfect picture, but one as near perfect as pos- 
sible to him. This is what he really aims at. 
Granting, however, that he is really aiming at the 
result under consideration, and does this, not ex- 
pecting to realize the end aimed at, it by no means 
follows from such an admission that a man can 
honestly aim at doing what God requires, expect- 
ing not to do it. In the former case, a man aims 
to do what he knows he can not possibly accom- 
plish. In the latter, he aims only at what is, and 
is known to be practicable to him. Now, if it 
should be granted (which is in fact denied), that a 
man may aim to perform a known impossibility, 
expecting not to do it, it does not follow from this 
that he can aim to do what he knows well that he 
may and ought to do (as is the case with full obe- 
dience to God), expecting not to do it. Suppose I 
know it practicable for me to walk twenty miles in 
a day. Can I honestly aim to walk that entire dis- 
tance, expecting all the while to travel but fifteen 
miles % How perfectly absurd and contradictory 
the supposition. Equally absurd, and for the same 
identical reason, is the dogma, that a man may 
honestly aim to do his entire duty, expecting all 
the while not to do it. 

4. We are now fully prepared, finally, to meet 
the question, whether the sacred writers did de- 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 229 

sign to teach the doctrine, that no believer ever has, 
or ever will attain to a state of entire sanctification 
in this life. The following considerations render 
it, to my mind, demonstrably evident, that they 
never did design to express any such sentiment. 

(1.) If they have taught this fact, they have most 
palpably contradicted themselves. They have, on 
that supposition, in some parts of the Bible, affirmed 
that no individual ever did, or ever will, " walk in 
all G-od's commandments and ordinances blame- 
less," and in another part, that two individuals did 
this very thing; that no man ever has, or will, 
" become dead unto sin, and alive unto G-od, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord," and •that one in- 
dividual has come into this very state. Do you 
suppose, reader, that the sacred writers have ever 
contradicted themselves in this manner ? 

(2.) On the supposition that the Bible requires 
us to believe that no Christian attains to the exer- 
cise of perfect love in this life, it requires us to 
believe a fact, the belief of which is directly and 
irreconcilably at war with the main design of the 
gospel. A fundamental and revealed design of 
Christ in the provisions and promises of grace, in 
the gift of the Spirit, and the organization of the 
church, is the entire sanctification of believers in 
this life. Can any fact be conceived of, the belief 
of which is more perfectly adapted to defeat that 
design, than the revealed fact that this end shall 
never be realized in the experience of a solitary 
saint on earth % Could such a revelation answer 
any other end than to hang weights upon the faith 
of the church, and drag her down under the influ- 
ence of unbelief] Christ has declared that "He 
loved the church, and gave himself for it, that He 
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 
water by the word ; that He might present it to 
U 



230 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

himself, a glorious church, not having spot, or 
wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be 
holy, and without blemish." God has authorized 
us, by promises " exceedingly great and precious/' 
to look to him by faith, to be " sanctified wholly, 
and preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ.' , Can any thing be more per- 
fectly adapted to prevent our exercising the faith 
requisite to a realization of such promises in our 
experience, than the belief of the fact, as a revealed 
truth, that we shall never, in this life, exercise that 
faith ? Is the Bible thus at war with itself] Has 
it required us to believe a fact, the belief of which 
is at war with the main design of inspiration ? 
Reader, can you believe it 1 

(3.) The manner in which the sacred writers in- 
variably speak on this subject, shows clearly that 
they never intended to teach any such thing. They 
everywhere required the exercise of perfect love, 
prayed for grace to exercise it, and spoke of it as 
if they not only intended, but expected, that it 
would be exercised. Take two or three examples : 
" Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in 
heaven is perfect;" "Whosoever heareth these 
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him 
to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock." 
What if Christ, after uttering that command, and 
saying that whosoever should hear and obey it is 
like a wise man who built his house upon a rock, 
had added, " Whosoever hears that command, and 
avows the expectation of obeying it, or the belief 
that any man ever has obeyed, or will, in this life, 
obey it, I will l liken him to a foolish man, who 
built his house upon the sand.'" This is just 
what he would have said, had he taught the doc- 
trine of Imperfection. " Let Patience have her 
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, 



THE DOCTRINE OF IMPERFECTION. 231 

wanting nothing." What if the Apostle had added, 
" Brethren, if any of you shall indulge the expecta- 
tion of letting ' Patience have her perfect work,' 
so that you shall become thus ' perfect and entire/ 
or shall avow the belief that any saint ever has done 
or will do this, you will fall into a most dangerous 
delusion ]" " Abraham, walk before me, and be 
thou perfect.'' What if God had added, " Now, 
Abraham, if you indulge the expectation of obey- 
ing this command, or avow the belief that any in- 
dividuals ever have obeyed, or will obey it, you 
shall no longer be called the father of the faith- 
ful ?" What a strange farce the sacred writers 
have acted, on the supposition that they have 
placed together such absurdities as these ! 

Reader, God hath provided better things for his 
people than this doctrine proffers to our faith. 
And now that you may attain to a full understand- 
ing and experience of the " riches of the glory of 
this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is Christ 
in you the hope of glory," " for this cause I bow 
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and 
earth is named, that he would grant you according 
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ 
may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being 
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to com- 
prehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height; and to know the 
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye 
might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now 
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think, according to the 
power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the 
church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world 
without end. Amen." 



SERMON XII. 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall 
be the peace of thy children. — Isa., liv., 13. 

Howbeit, when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide 
you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatso- 
ever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you 
things to come. — John, xvi., 13. 

Every one, who has correctly informed him- 
self in respect to the history of the church, is aware, 
that all the forms of dark fanaticism which have, in 
any age, attended her existence, have taken their 
rise, mainly, in false and perverted conceptions of 
the nature, extent, and conditions of the teachings 
and illuminations of the Holy Spirit. On the other 
hand, all eminent attainments in holiness have 
ever been attended with, and had their chief basis 
in, clear, well defined; and correct views on this 
important subject. A fall and true elucidation of 
this subject is, at the present time, one of the greut 
wants of the church. Special attention is there- 
fore invited to the following train of thought, de- 
signed, as far as practicable, to accomplish this im- 
portant end. As preliminary to the attainment of 
this result, I remark : 

1. We read in the Scriptures, that "man is made 
in the image of God." " Therewith" (that is, with 
the tongue) " bless we God, even the Father, and 
therewith curse we men, which are made after the 
similitude of God." " He" (the husband) "is the 
image and glory of God." Whatever else is im- 
plied in such passages, one thing we must under- 
stand, as taught in them, to wit : that the laws and 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 233 

susceptibilities of the human, are copied after the 
divine mind; so that man is capable of knowing 
the things which God knows, and -of resembling 
Him in character. 

2. But while man can thus know the objects of 
God's knowledge, and feel and act in view of his 
knowledge as God does, yet in one important view, 
the human jnind differs essentially from the divine. 
God's mind, all His powers, are incapable both of 
increase or diminution — His knowledge, His pow- 
er, His wisdom, His goodness, remain forever the 
same. To eternity, they can never be either great- 
er or less than they have been from eternity. They 
are all infinite. 

On the other hand, man is capable of endless pro- 
gression, in the development of all his faculties. 
This is the law governing all the powers of the 
soul. Our intellect is capable of endless growth. 
Our knowledge can forever increase. Our suscep- 
tibilities are capable of eternal expansion. 

3. Progress- is a fundamental and perpetual dc^ 
mand of human nature. We are so made, that if 
our powers do not advance in constant growth, we 
are wretched of necessity. A given amount is not 
enough. We may be satisfied with that now ; but 
when that point is gained, our being cries out for 
higher and more perfect views. We must continue 
to enlarge our sphere, to expand our powers, 
through everlasting duration. If, at any stage of 
its progress, the mind should cease to grow, it 
would cease to be blessed, from the very nature of 
its constitution. 

4. But further. The mind grows only by exer- 
cise. This is a universal law of life, a principle 
operating everywhere. How does the physical 
system become strong and vigorous ? By exer- 
cise. In what manner does a parent develop the 

v2 



234 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

physical capabilities of his child ] By placing him 
where he must exert the strength he does possess, 
put forth vigorous efforts in the use of his limbs, 
grapple with weights as heavy as his arms can 
support, perhaps often by having him attempt what 
at present his strength is partially unequal to. Thus 
the physical powers are strengthened and perfect- 
ed. So with mind. The intellect must grapple 
with the great questions of truth. In this way only 
can it gain that might which it is its privilege to 
. wield. If mind were placed in circumstances where 
it should gain its knowledge without exertion, it 
would never grow. Its condition would be like 
that of a child, as to his physical powers, whose 
wants should be supplied without any movement 
on his part. Such a child could never acquire 
bodily strength. So with the mind. If knowledge 
should be communicated to it, with no exertion on 
its part, if no great problems were submitted to it 
to be solved, no grand demonstrations to be elabo- 
rated, it could not grow. 

5. But while it is true that strong and vigorous 
effort is necessary to the perfection of mind, it is 
equally true that the mind, at every stage of its 
progress, needs to know some things with infallible 
certainty, without the possibility of mistake. Those 
truths which pertain to duty, the great rule which 
shall govern it in all its actions, these must be 
known with infallible certainty. Its eternal destiny 
is suspended here. Shall the mind not know what 
is duty ] Shall a line be marked, and the man 
required, on pain of death eternal, to pursue it, 
without the possibility of knowing the line? nay, 
without the ability to know it with infallible cer- 
tainty ] Surely not. It must know the rule of 
duty, and that without the possibility of mistake. 
It is needful, also, to possess all knowledge 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 235 

requisite to one's highest well-being and greatest 
usefulness. These, too, must be known with infal- 
lible certainty. 

6. We are now prepared to contemplate the 
most perfect system of divine administration of 
which the mind can conceive, that best adapted to 
secure the perfection and highest blessedness of 
created intelligences. Three different and opposite 
systems present themselves to our contemplation. 

Under the first, all knowledge, a thing certainly J 
possible with God, would be communicated to the ' * 
mind, without any effort on our part, and commu- 
nicated with no mixture of error. This system, as 
you perceive, is wholly unadapted to the growth, 
maturing, and, of course, to the perfection and 
blessedness of the mind. 

The second is that in which the mind would be Q-. 
necessitated to labor somewhat for the acquisition 
of knowledge ; but when this one condition is ful- 
filled, all knowledge would be communicated with- 
out the possibility of mistake on any subject. While 
this system possesses certain advantages, it labors 
under the most manifest and fatal defects. Under 
its influence the mind would be freed entirely from 
thenecessityof reviewing the ground already passed 
over, for the purpose 01 discovering and correcting ) 
errors, an exercise most favorable to mental devel- I 
opment, and which, of all others, tends most effect- 
ually to impress deeply and indelibly the truth upon J 
the heart. This system, also, is unadapted to our 
social nature. It renders each mind independent 
of all others. All comparison of opinions, every 
| thing in the form of discussion, is entirely super- 
seded. It is when, and, I had almost said, only 
when, mind grapples with mind, on the arena of 
thought, in the discussion of the great problems 
of universal, eternal, and immutable truth, that 



<<< 



236 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

the mental powers grow up into vigorous man- 
hood. 

The third system is that in which every thing 
pertaining to duty, every thing necessary to our 
highest usefulness and well-being, shall be taught 

, with infallible certainty ; while in reference to all 
other things, we shall be left to search out the 
truth, and shall be required to do it in the exercise 
of our own powers and faculties — not indeed with- 
out any help at all, but left in such circumstances, 
that, in respect to things not absolutely essential, we 
shall be always liable to error. Now I suppose \ 

j this to be the most perfect system possible for the i ) 
perfection of intelligent natures. All the true in- 
terests are perfectly secured ; all those principles 
which are fundamental to the action of the mind, all 
the knowledge necessary to perfect and enduring ) 
blessedness, revealed to the soul with a certainty 
which can not be shaken. Then for the strength- 
ening and maturing the faculties, enlarging the 
sphere of usefulness and enjoyment, and the capa-^ 
bility of exertion and of happiness, great problems 
are thrown out to be grappled with— problems, in 
the solution, or attempted solution of which, a con- 
stant and perpetual growth shall be secured of all 
the capabilities of our being. Such a system we 
should judge, knowing what we do of the nature 
of the human constitution, to be best adapted to its 
necessities and development, to its most perfect 
and permanent blessedness. 

7. Now suppose that God were to send His en- 

: lightening Spirit to dwell in the hearts of men, for 
the purpose of teaching them ; what might He be 
expected to do J Under the first two systems, He 
would be required to bring |ill knowledge to the 
mind, with no effort whatever on its part, or when 
the mind had made certain efforts, to enlighten it 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 237 

to such a degree, as to render it, on all subjects 
alike, injallilje. While each of these systems has 
its advantages, they are, as we have seen, most 
unfavorable to the growth, maturity, and perfection 
of mind. 

Under the third system, upon the question of 
duty, and in respect to all truths, a knowledge of 
which is indispensable to our highest usefulness and 
well-being, the teachings of the Spirit, when His 
divine illumination is sought, in the manner, and 
with the state of mind required, would be unequiv- 
ocally clear, and infallibly certain. On these ques- 
tions, no possibility of delusion would be left to 
the honest and trustful heart ; while in other direc- 
tions great problems would be thrown upon the 
mind to be solved, without the promise of such in- 
fallible guidance. In their solution He would con-N 
sent to help us more or less, as infinite wisdom ) 
should see to be best ; but would yet leave us to 
find them out ourselves, in the appropriate exer- 
cise of our own powers. 

On this system, God would give us His pledge, 
that if we will only be honest-hearted, confiding, 
and active, we shall never be deceived on any sub- 
ject, so as to injure our happiness, or endanger 
our safety, and then point out great problems, in 
ourselves, in the Bible, in His providence, and in 
the universe, upon which to ejcejrcise our faculties 
to their utmosLstretch, problems so great and exten- 
sive as continually to open and unfold before our 
minds, and forever to occupy our expanding pow- 
ers, and keep up an endless increase in knowledge, 
holiness, and bliss. 

On the first two systems, we should be infallibly 
taught on all subjects, but we could never grow. 
Our minds would never be duly exercised, and 
would never increase in strength. On the one last 



238 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

named, we should be taught infallibly as to our 
duty, and so much as to secure complete and per- 
fect blessedness, and the highest usefulness, but as 
to the great problems of matter and of mind, left 
always, to a greater or less extent, liable to error. 
Now, the question which I wish to present to your 
minds, is this : Under which of these supposed 
systems are we actually placed ] In conformity to 
which system are we to expect the teachings of 
the Spirit ] This brings me to the main topic of 
this discourse, and opens the way for a statement 
of the position which I shall endeavor to establish, 
which is this : ^ 

-~ On all subjects necessary to salvation, to our high-\ 
est usefulness, holiness, and peace, we can have ah- • 
solutely infallible guidance. On all other subjects 
great problems are thrown upon our minds, which 
we are required to attempt to solve, icithout the prom- j 
ise of such infallible guidance. 

This I shall prove to be the actual condition of 
man, by a reference t® undeniable facts. 

1. Contemplate the heavens above, the move- 
ments and the splendor of the celestial orbs. We 
turn to the Psalms, and find, that thousands of 
years ago, in the youth of mankind, a man, under 
the influence and teaching of God's Spirit, looked 
upon the heavens with this sentiment : " The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment showeth His handiwork ; day unto day utter- 
eth speech, and night unto night showeth knowl- 
edge." Now it was indispensable to his highest 
blessedness and holiness, that he should be brought 
into such a relation to the heavens as this, that he 
should know, that the fact should be visible, should 
be an ever present reality to his soul, that in the 
heavens the glory of God shines forth^ Thus far, 
then, he was taught. In this knowledge he could 



;, Jjyt>ve^V to ^ H 2 ^^' Aadb^-" 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 239 

not be mistaken. Of this fact he was absolutely 
certain. And this every person may be taught, as 
David was — may be instructed to behold God in the 
heavens, His wisdom in every part of the expanse, 
His goodness and love in every star. But bear in 
mind, there are great and intricate problems about 
the heavens, that God has thrown upon the mind 
without the promise of supernatural and infallible 
guidance in their solution. What are these stars ? 
What laws govern their movements ] What is the 
mechanism of the heavens ] At these we must 
labor, with a continual liability to err. Good men, 
in all ages, have wrought in the solution of these 
problems, and have always, to a greater or less ex- 
tent, failed ; for it is scarcely two centuries since 
the true mechanism of the heavenly bodies was 
found out, since the great chain which binds the /X 
universe of worlds, in one harmonious round, was 
brought forth from the mystery of all former ages 
since the creation. Nov/, why did not God reveal !i? 
it at first ? Or why was not the revelation made 
at some time with infallible certainty] Because it 
was better men should labor at it, try it over, and 
over, and over, continue to fail, be in error thou- 
sands of years, but by and by to work it out. He 
saw it best, and He left man so, left him without 
infallible guidance here ; yet necessitated him to 
work at the celestial problems, to attempt them 
over and over, to continue to toil at them, though 
fo£-lpng ages above his strength. 

2. Lt>ok next at the earth. God made the Psalm- 
ist sensible, thousands of years ago, that the earth 
is full of the goodness of God-— -full of it, that all the 
changes there^rTevery thing that exists, manifests 
the goodness of God. He could be sensible of that 
—He knew it. It was a reality to his soul. And 
the Holy Spirit can and will make that a living om- 



240 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

nipresent reality to every honest mind, so that God 
shall be present as infinitely good in every thing. 
"Though the earth be removed, and the mount- 
ains be carried into the midst of the sea, though 
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the 
mountains shake with the swelling thereof/' "though 
the fig : tree blossom not, nor fruit be in the vines, 
the labor of the olive fail, the fields yield no meat, 
the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no 
herd in the stalls," yet the Spirit of God in the soul, 
will make every such man, as He did the prophet 
of old, "rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God 
of His salvation." He will make the heart of the 
trustful perpetually sensible that the earth is full 
of his goodness, full of God's wisdom and love. 
This God will do, because this sense of his love is 
absolutely essential to happiness. But suppose a 
man should ask — How can all this work out the 
great ends of benevolence ] God says — Find that 
out yourself. They will infallibly do it. I can make 
you sensible of that fact, can give you a certain as- 
surance of that truth. But you must work out the 
v problem yourself. Search the laws of my universe, 
the tendencies, the results of things on the whole, 
and by and by you w T ill see ; the problem will open, 
and burst upon you in all its glory. There are many 
mysteries in the providence of God, in the arrange- 
ment of things on the earth. Volcanoes heave their 
mighty fires. Hurricanes and earthquakes desolate 
the earth. Animals devour each other. Misery 
\ meets us everywhere. Now how is it that from 
I all this the love and glory of God is to come forth 1 
God says, That is the problem I give you to solve. 
I shall not reveal that to you. If you will look to 
me, I will give you such a manifestation of my 
presence and love, that it shall be^a living reality 
to you, that I am good in all things ; so that you 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 241 

shall rest in the fullest peace upon my bosom, 
with the most absolute assurance of my eternal 
and boundless love. God is ready by his Spirit 
to bring every honest mind into that state. 

3. In the moral world, too, the same darkness 
hangs over the divine administration. Voltaire 
appears, and begins to spread his poisonous influ- 
ence through the earth. Myriads are ruined by 
his teachings. He lives on, and eighty years alone 
suffice to measure his life, and send him to the 
grave. Spencer is born. He begins to speak as if 
his lips were touched with seraphic fire. He utters 
forth a few strains, sweet as the music of the angels, 
and dies. O, why did Voltaire live so long, and 
Spencer die so soon'? Does God rule the world 
in love ] Yes, and God's Spirit will make us, if 
we are honest and trustful, sensible of it in the 
fullest degree. But if we ask how ? — if we go and 
ask God, bearing even on our lips the promise, "If 
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who 
giveth to all liberally and upbraid eth not, and it 
shall be given him," our heavenly Father will reply 
— You must search that out yourselves. I shall not 
reveal it. I will show myself to your heart, and 
ravish it, and assure you of all my benevolence. 
But it is not best for me to tell you how. "Watch 
the movements of Providence, and see how these 
things work and result, and by and by you will be 
able to cry — " Ah, now I see it, I see it now. I 
see how God brings good out of evil.' , God has 
thrown these mysteries before us, because it is 
wisest and best that we should exercise our pow- 
ers in the solution of the glorious problems of his * 
universe. 

4. Look, now, at the human mind. As we con- 
template, some things we all know — that we are 
free agents, that we are accountable, that we are 

X 



242 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

immortal, that we are created ; these we need to 
know at all times and in every stage, and these we 
may know, and know infallibly. But there are, far 
down in the depths of the mind, mysteries unre- 
vealed. Unfathomed distance lies beneath every 
plummet's sounding. These secrets need to be 
read. These jewels need to be brought up from 
the deep ocean. And God has kept the mind la- 
boring incessantly for ages upon the great mental 
problems, for their solution, but thus far, even, 
with only partial success. Why did not God bring 
them out to the light at first, or make them infalli- 
bly sure at some time in man's progress ] Suppose 
He had thus revealed them, it might have been 
good, perhaps ; for knowledge is good. But it 
would not have been so good as the very labor it- 
self of the solution would be, to the maturing of 
the mind, and the perfection of its faculties. There 
is the good — the good resulting from labor, just as 
labor is good to a child. God bids mind to go down 
to those depths, to descend and fathom those wells, 
to dig down the profound deep of those precious 
mines, and bring up those invaluable gems, to dive 
into those ocean caves, and raise to the surface the 
pearls hidden there. He says, I will help you, give 
you opportunity and advantage, but no infallible 
guidance — you shall be liable to mistake. Exer- 
cise your powers with diligence, yet with great 
candor, and caution. 

5. Once more. The word of God presents a 
most striking illustration of the great truth which I 
am endeavoring to establish. 

(1.) In the first place — When we contemplate 
its general features, the fact strikes us at once, that 
its great practical truths lie on the surface. There 
is a highway cast up through the Bible, "in which 
a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err." In 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 243 

the rule of duty, the truths necessary to the perfect 
and highest blessedness of the soul, and its entire 
holiness, no man need err, and no honest mind does 
err. A little child can find the path. But suppose 
a man asks — Have we not a system of divinity in 
the Bible 1 Would it not be well to have a thorough- 
ly digested system of the doctrines and duties of 
religion ? Yes, it would be well. But God has 
given us the Bible, and his Providence, and our 
own reason, and thus left us to find out the system. 
" But we are liable to be deceived." Yes. "Give 
us infallible guidance." No, God says, work it out, 
dig, labor, toil, and, in the very labor and toil, you 
will grow, your minds will expand, and be prepar- 
ed to apprehend the higher mysteries of my king- 
dom. I give you no infallible guidance here. I 
throw upon you the responsibility of attempting 
the solution, of finding out and arranging the grand 
system of truth. God looks on our work, and sees 
the mistakes into which we fall. He looks on with 
a parent's eye, and He would like to correct our 
errors. But He sees that to secure us against er- 
ror, by removing the necessity of labor, and thus 
prevent the continued growth of the mind, would 7 
be far worse than to permit our falling into num- 
berless mistakes in the prosecution of our work. 

(2Ty Again, the revelation of the coming of Christ 
to the prophets, was only partial." The Spirit told 
them of a glorious consummation — " To us a child 
is born, to us a son is given, and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be 
Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the Ever- 
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace." A glorious 
Messiah ! And then His kingdom, " Of the increase 
of His government there shall be no end." A bliss- 
ful prospect ! Their minds inquire — Whaj__will 
He be ? What the form, manner, and character 



244 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

of His kingdom ] When will be the grand con- 
summation ? The TSpirit tells them — That, I do 
not, with perfect distinctness, reveal. Go, search, 
inquire. It is the will of God that you try to dis- 
cover the time, and the manner of the coming of 
the Messiah. Be diligent. But I shall not tell 
you. It is a mystery for you to work at, and at- 
tempt to solve. The sufferings of Christ, and the 
glory to follow, must be a mystery till the glorious 
day appears. I will give you opportunity, will 
throw around you certain indications. You will be 
liable to mistake ; but search, exercise your powers. 
In this state, God kept the ancient prophets. What 
did those sublime prophecies mean % The Spirit 
was stirring up their souls to pour forth great pre- 
dictions — glorious scenes were passing before their 
view. What do they mean % And when are they 
to be ] God tells them — Let your minds range 
the fields of glory. Go, rapt in vision, through the 
regions of celestial blessedness. Put your minds to 
the utmost stretch. The best I can do, is to let you 
work at the problem, and you may know, for your 
own consolation, that the angels are engaged in the 
work too. 

(3.) The particular doctrines of the Bible also 

furnish appropriate illustrations of the truth of my 

& position. For instance, the doctrine of the Atonement. 

How plain it is from the sacred volume, that 
Christ died to atone for our sins, and that by faith 
in his blood, and repentance, and forsaking our 
sins, we may be freely forgiven all our transgres- 
sions. Every mind can find that out from the Bi- 
ble. No one need mistake, and no honest mind 
does mistake here. The fact of reconciliation and 
forgiveness, on repentance and faith, lies out as in 
the clear sunlight. And that is all that is necessary 
to our perfect peace and highest blessedness. So 



ft 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 245 

i 

much is taught with infallible certainty. " Believe 
and thou shalt be saved," is adapted to even the 
lowest comprehension. But, when the question is 
asked — How does the death of Christ make atone- 
ment for sin," and open the way for reconciliation 1 
Here we are met with differing opinions. Edwards, 
the younger, said, "I have been engagedior many 
years^rrTsTudymg that question. It is the Gordian 
knot in Theology." He had tried at the solution. 
Good men for eighteen hundred years have exert- 
ed their utmost power, with attempts but partially 
successful, to untie this Gordian knot. Why was 
it not revealed at once in a clear and well digested 
scheme of divinity'? Because all knowledge indis- 
pensable being revealed, that practical view of the 
Atonement which is essential to s an ctifi cation be- 
ing given without a liability to mistake, with the 
aid of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; it 
is better, that the mind should use its power, in un- 
folding the mysteries of Jehovah's government, and 
the deep principles of his administration. It is \ 
better that the mind should mature its strength by ] 
grappling with the tremendous problems, and try- ' 
ing to elaborate the sublime demonstrations from 
the great universe of truth, as it passes in solemn 
grandeur before our astonished gaze. Here our 
faculties are aroused to their utmost stretch, in at- 
tempts repeated again and again, and yet again, 
and ever partially unsuccessful to comprehend the 
glories of the Infinite Lawgiver and King. 

Every great doctrine of our holy religion would 
furnish a similar illustration. The child can know 
all that is essential to forgiveness and sanctification, 
and perfect and perpetual blessedness. But it is 
needful that we grow, and for this we must toil 
and labor, and for this, these great problems are 
thrown upon us, to task our utmost powers, and 
x2 



246 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

draw out the inborn capabilities of our being. I 
have now said enough to show the true relation 
we sustain to the Bible, the object of the Spirit's 
teaching, the department of his infallible guidance, 
and the department in which we are left to a great 
extent, to our own labor, to solve for ourselves. 

REMARKS. 

1. This subject lays open to us the real differ- 
ences between honest inquirers. It is important 
to know in what department of inquiry honest minds 
differ. Now in every thing pertaining to salvation 
and blessedness, in the perception of the rule of 
duty, and the apprehension of the glory of God, in 
his works and his word, they do not differ. All 
agree here. These things the Holy Spirit has 
taught to all God's spiritual children with infallible 
certainty. But step out of this field into a region 
in which men are left to study and conclude for 
themselves with a liability to error, and there you 
find good men differ widely. There they are, try- 
ing to get at the truth, and God looks down upon 
them, as a parent does upon his child when he is at- 
tempting to do something which he is unacquainted 
with, not in anger, but in love. Does the parent, 
because of the mistakes of his child, apply the 
chastising rod? No, surely. The child tries, and 
tries, does the best he can, and fails, and tries again. 
The parent looks on with complacency, and says — 
" That is well, my son. You are not quite right, 
but try again. You will see how by and by. By 
and by, you will be able to use your limbs with 
skill. I shall not take your tools and do the work 
for you ; for I wish your arms to be strong, and 
your head to possess skill." One child works on 
one plan, and another on a different one. The 
parent says — "Go on. Let each see how the 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 247 

other does; and improve as fast as he can: I will 
instruct you as much as it is wise for me to do ; but 
it is best for you to exercise your own powers.' ' 
So with our heavenly Father. He leaves good 
men to differ in those great problems of the gospel, 
which lie within the field of human research, and 
without the department of knowledge indispensa- 
ble to holiness and happiness. Each one brings 
up his view. They differ much — most likely are 
. all, at least partially, if not wholly wrong. But they 
never differ on the things indispensable to joy in 
God and perfect salvation. Why does God permit 
them thus to differ 1 Not because differences are 
not an evil in themselves ; but because the system 
in which there shall be the necessity of mental ex- — 
ertion, and of course, an incidental liability to er- 
ror, is incalculably better on the whole, than that in 
which there should be perfect infallibility, and so 
no increase, no growth of the mental faculties, and 
consequently of bliss. God leaves men to search, 
lets them seek diligently, indicates the truth so far 
as he can, and yet leave the mind to labor with all 
its might. ^ jfrin 

2. We learn the uses of such errors in judg- 
ment, to good men, together with a consciousness 
of their own fallibility. The Bible says — " All 
things work together for good, to them that love 
God." I will express an opinion warranted by « 
this passage, that the errors of good men work their 
good. You may think that mysterious, but I be- 
lieve it, and these are my reasons : 

(L) It affords continual opportunity for the ex- 
ercise of candor in reexamining opinions, and hu- 
mility in confessing and retracting errors. A mind 
lanches out into the ocean of inquiry, and after 
sounding and sounding, after a long and careful 
search, forms and expresses an opinion. This 



248 THE TKUE BELIEVER. 

opinion is met and rebutted. He sets to it again* 
searches, and studies, and casts his plummet, and 
finds something wrong. He acknowledges his 
error, takes to pieces his whole system, constructed 
with so much labor and painstaking, removes the 
mischievous portion, reexamines the whole range 
of the subject, and reconstructs his system, or waits 
with it unfinished, till more complete knowledge 
shall enable him to go on and perfect it, with less 
likelihood of being again obliged to demolish and 
build his fabric anew. Is all this an evil? No, 
the labor is a good; and a greater good than all 
the rest, is the candor continually exercised through 
the whole, in weighing opposing evidence and giv- 
ing up dearly cherished opinions, and the humility 
in acknowledging errors and retracting them. 

(2.) It tests candor in listening to another's opin- 
ion. " Brother, have you been into that field ]" 
" Yes." " What did you find ?" " Such and such 
things." "But my conclusions are totally differ- 
ent." "How so V 9 " What were your reasons V 9 
M Such and such were my reasons." " But to my 
mind it appears so, and these are my grounds." 
What an opportunity is here for candor in listen- 
ing to, and calm and dispassionate weighing of the 
arguments of others. But without differences of 
opinion, and so without liability thereto, and there- 
fore without a department wherein men shall be 
left to their own judgment, no such opportunity 
would be presented. Would it be well, would it 
be wise in God, to relieve us from the exercise of 
such Christian virtue ] It would not be wise ; for 
God has thrown us into exactly that position. Per- 
haps in comparing views, we shall find that we are 
both wrong. Well, we try it over, and when we 
think we have really found the right, again we 
compare, again we detect error, and again we go 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 249 

back to our investigations, with a most useful les- 
son, to be cautious in framing opinions, to be cer- 
tain of the ground we stand upon, and to be disposed 
to weigh well the opinions of a brother. Would it 
be wise for our heavenly Father to relieve us from 
this, to take from us all possibility of learning such 
lessons ] No. It is best that children should use 
their own limbs, though at the danger of falling, 
and falling on the stones even, sometimes. It is 
best that the Spirit should teach infallibly, only 
in certain cases, and leave us, in others, to labor 
and grow. If we die without having solved our 
problems — no matter. Growth is still secured, 
which is the most important object after sanctifica- j 
tion. J 

M The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, 
The deeper draught shall they receive of heaven." 

(3.) Another important benefit which we should 
never forget, is this : In tracing any error in an 
honest mind to its origin, we shall, in the search, 
find somewhere a glorious truth, to which the error S 
has clung, but upon which truth, in reality, the 
mind leaned. In this way, the most important 
discoveries are often made. This shows the infi- 
nite wisdom and benevolence of God's plan, in 
fitting mind for eternity. 

3. We now have a correct principle to guide us 
in the interpretation of the promises of the Bible, t— 
in respect to divine teaching. jFoFexample, " He 
[the Spirit] shall guide you into all truth." " If 
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it 
shall be given him." The question is, shall such 
promises be understood in an unlimited, or restrict- 
ed sense ] And if in the last sense, what is the 
true principle to be applied in their interpretation ] 

A man commences the study of astronomy. Here 
certainly is truth, glorious truth. What if, in view 



250 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

of the promise, " He shall guide into all truth/ 9 he 
should avow the expectation of being guided by 
the Spirit to a complete knowledge of that science 
in its most perfect form ! What if he should take 
upon himself to denounce all who should question 
the truth of his theory thus formed, as " having not 
the Spirit !" 

Take another case. Dr. Scott affirms, that in 
writing his commentary, he never attempted the 
interpretation of a single passage of Scripture, 
without an earnest and special prayer for divine 
illumination. What if he, on the ground that wis- 
dom is promised to those who ask, and he had 
asked it, because the Spirit is promised to " guide 
us into all truth/ ' and he had sought its illumina- 
tion, should claim to be an infallible interpreter 1 
Who would grant that claim 1 If such promises 
authorize him to set up such a claim, they author- 
ize every other man to set up a claim to absolute 
omniscience. For omniscience only embraces all 
j truth, according to the literal meaning of the 
I phrase. 

What, then, is the true principle to be applied in 
the interpretation of such promises 1 What de- 
gree of knowledge and illumination do they proffer 
to our faith ] All of every kind and degree neces- 
sary to our highest holiness and peace. Thus far 
we are to expect a cloudless vision of truth, the 
infallible guidance of the Spirit of God. 

4. We are now prepared to understand the true 
doctrine of the " Witness of the Spirit." This 
subject is thus presented in the Bible : — " Before 
! His translation He had this testimony, that He 
j pleased God;" " For the Spirit itself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirits that we are the children of 
God." When an individual professes the " wit- 
ness of the Spirit," in respect to any subject so 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 251 

indispensable to his holiness and peace as this, 
conscious acceptance with God, his profession is 
altogether credible, a profession which all are 
bound to make in truth. But suppose that he pro- 
fesses the " witness of the Spirit," to the truth of 
his exposition of the " days" of Daniel and John, 
of the "beasts," and "horns," and other symbols 
of prophecy, of the time and manner of the second 
advent of Christ — indeed, of his own peculiar views 
of any one doctrine, or systems of doctrines, of the 
Bible — views in which he differs from his breth- 
ren — I no more believe him than I would if he 
should profess the " witness of the Spirit" to his 
own omniscience. He has no more authority from 
the Bible for such a profession in the one case, than 
in the other. 

5. I notice a grand, and I may add, an almost 
universal error of the church; an error in which 
she can not be morally innocent. She can, to a 
fearful extent, " bear them that are evil" mor- 
ally evil ; while she can not endure a difference of 
opinion, even in those obscure regions of thought 
and inquiry where she acknowledges men may be 
perfectly honest and yet fallible. Who does not 
know that a man may indulge in pride, luxury, 
covetousness, and worldly-mindedness, that he may 
" grind the faces of the poor," take from immortal 
minds the "key of knowledge," and traffic in "the 
bodies and souls of men," and yet sleep unreproved 
upon the bosom of the church. But let an individ- 
ual, with a heart as honest as Paul's, and acknowl- 
edged to be so, range, in search for truth, just be- 
yond the line of rigid orthodoxy, and there profess 
to have found some priceless jewel; what is his 
reputation now worth ] How totally opposite this 
is to the entire spirit of the gospel, as set forth in 
the Bible. There we are required " by all means 



252 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

to rebuke our neighbor, and not to suffer sin upon 
him ;" while we are required, with equal positive- 
ness, never to separate from a brother, not to love 
him less, nor in the least to contract our fellowship 
with him, on account of sentiments, the belief of 
which does not imply a dishonest, unsanctified 
heart. What a melancholy spectacle do religious 
controversies almost everywhere present. How 
commonly do they degenerate into personalities. 

6. I will here express an opinion which the read- 
er is requested to ponder with solemn interest. He, 
of almost all others, has made the highest attain- 
ments in holiness, he most perfectly represents the 
spirit of the gospel, who can differ with a brother 
on all subjects not essential to salvation, discuss 
such differences with earnestness, reprobate his 
errors, and yet maintain his confidence in him as 
an honest, and his love for him as a holy man un- 
diminished. A revival of this spirit in the church 
will be a revival of religion, " pure and undefiled 
before God." 

7. The account which God will ask us to render 
at His judgment seat. He will not ask me if I was 
infallible on earth. No. He sent me here to solve 
great problems ; He knew they were deep, and 
intricate, and far reaching ; He knew my powers 
were weak and infantlike ; He did not expect me 
to dive to the deep foundations of eternity, to soar 
to the heights of the Infinite Intelligence. But He 
threw them before me in all their solemn import, 
to let me try my strength upon them, and thus de- 
velop and mature my nature. But, He will ask me, 
Had you an honest heart ? Did you toil to get up 
the hill Difficulty % Did you climb and struggle 
to gain the summit ] Were you open to convic- 
tion, to receive the light on all subjects 1 If I can 
answer Yes, He will reply, " Well done, good 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 253 

and faithful servant.' ' I have no fear to meet my 
Lord in such a state of mind. Though I should be 
mistaken as to the time and manner of his coming, 
yet let Him say that I am honest-hearted, and I 
can hail Him with joy, be His coming how and 
when it may. 

Here is the citadel of the soul. Here is the bul- 
wark to be defended. Upon this salvation turns. 
It is more important to be honest, than to be ex- 
actly correct in our opinions, in all respects — to be 
honest inquirers, than to know the exact forms of 
truth not essential to salvation. 

8. I notice also a very common mistake in re- 
spect to a state of perfect moral purity. Very 
many seem to attach to such a state, the idea of 
infallibility in judgment. An influential brother in 
the ministry, thought he had discovered a wrong 
exposition of a single passage of Scripture, in a 
w T ork on entire holiness in this life. He immedi- 
ately wrote us a very kind but earnest letter, say- 
ing that if we expected him to believe our doctrine, 
we must not be detected in such an error as that. 
He had practically adopted the idea, that perfect 
moral purity, and infallibility in the interpretation 
of the Bible, are inseparable. For myself, I have 
no such conception of that state. I have no idea- 
that He who " charges His angels with folly," 
without imputing sin to them, requires, as a con- 
dition of perfect moral purity, infallibility in His 
children on earth. No, error in judgment on sub- 
jects not fundamental, not falling within the range 
of the infallible teachings of the Spirit, is perfectly 
compatible with a heart as pure as heaven itself. 

9. Notice the great temptation to which those 
who have been taught much of the Spirit are liable. 
Satan, it should be remembered, shapes his temp- 
tations to the state of mind in which he finds the 

Y 



254 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

subject of his attacks. To one, therefore, who has 
enjoyed much of the Spirit's teachings, he will say, 
" It is time for you to teach theology. Ministers 
and others know nothing. You have the Spirit.. 
You, therefore, 'know all things.'" Reader, be- 
ware of that fatal rock. All may have the Spirit 
without measure. But the Spirit is not given to 
all to render them theologians. 

10. We notice the use we should make of those 
who have a deep and rich experience. If you wish 
to know how to get into those depths yourself, go 
to them. They can lead you, for they know the 
road. They are equal to that. But if you wish 
to get the solution of a difficult problem in theolo- 
gy, you will not go to them, unless they are also 
theologians. Their experience in the Holy Ghost 
does not teach them the mysteries of philosophy, 
or the facts of history. A rich experience they 
have, and that you can get of them, and by that 
you do well to profit. And let me say here — The 
most perfect teacher, is he who has drank the deep- 
est at the fountain of life in the Spirit, and who has 
also taken the widest range among the sublime 
mysteries of God's kingdom, which lie everywhere 
around us. When both are united, when one ac- 
companies the other in a high degree, then have 
we a teacher indeed. 

11. We may understand, finally, the meaning of 
that glorious passage describing the blessedness in 
store for the children of Zion : " Thjy^uji shall be 
no more thy light by day, neither for brightness 
shall the moon give light to thee, but the Lord 
shall be to thee an everlasting light, and the days 
of thy mourning shall be ended." Into what a 
state has that soul come which has reached that 
place ! To bring the soul into this state is the de- 
partment of the Spirit's infallible teaching. He 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 255 

i 

can bring a soul into such a relation to Christ, into 
such a relation to God, and to all that is finite, that 
"whatever may happen in the universe, naught can 
--^disturb its deep rest in God. That is the idea in 
the passage. The individual that has attained this 
state, this divine illumination, has ceased to be de- 
pendent for his blessedness upon any changes in 
the sun or moon, upon any revolutions in the heav- 
ens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the uni- 
verse around him. " God is his everlasting light, 
and the days of his mourning are ended." Nothing 
that can happen can at all ruffle the strong, deep 
current which, flowing from the infinite heart of 
Jehovah, pours a full and overflowing tide of un- 
ceasing bliss into his. The sun may go out in 
darkness, the moon be turned tcTblood, the universe 
be wrapped in one general conflagration, and all 
created things pass away, and not a particle of the 
glory and bliss of his soul has been taken away. 

That mind opens its eye upon the revelations of 
the infinite. Its eternal home is the bosom of God. 
God is seen in every thing— the darkness and the 
light, the visible and the invisible — God shines 
forth everywhere, as the everlasting light of the 
' ::: ^oul. Brethren, it is our privilege even now to 
nave our home in the skies. Through the enlight- 
ening Spirit we may be led up those everlasting 
hills, plant our feet on those delectable mountains, 
and stand in ecstasy amid the revelations of eter- 
nity, while we sojourn in the vales of our native 
earth. Shall we be among the number who are 
reckoned "taught of God V O blessed, blessed, 
thrice blessed, is that soul who is thus taught. 



SERMON XIII. 
INQUIRER DIRECTED. 

For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, 
iindeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. — Mat., 
vii., 8. 

One truth of infinite importance is manifestly 
taught in this passage, to wit : every individual of 
our race now on probation, may set his heart upon 
attaining, in all its fullness, the salvation revealed in 
the gospel, with the absolute certainty of attaining it. 

For the sake of two classes of readers — the sin- 
ner, wishing to know what he shall do to be saved, 
and the Christian, inquiring after full redemption — 
I will now proceed, in as short a space as practi- 
cable, and " according to the grace given unto me," 
to elucidate this great truth. 

I. Let us, then, in the first place, consider the 
question, whether this salvation exists alike for all 9 
and in infinite fullness for the entire, necessities of 
each individual? 

1. It would be strange indeed, were it other- 
wise. Why should God render salvation practica- 
ble to one individual, and not to another ] All are 
alike his creatures. All sustain the same relations 
to the law, on the one hand, and to the redemption 
of Christ, on the other. All have together violated 
the law, and consequently, fallen under the same 
penalty. For all alike, Christ has poured out his 
soul unto death. Toward each and every indi- 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. 257 

vidual of fallen humanity, God' has expressed the 
same kind regards, the same unwillingness, that 
one should perish, as another. He opens his infi- 
nite heart to the greatest, as well as to the least 
sinner of the race, and declares, that he is alike de- 
sirous, that all should together partake of that eter- 
nal life which His infinite grace has provided for, 
and proffers alike to all. You do your own soul, 
and your God and Savior infinite wrong, reader, if 
for a moment you entertain the withering thought 
that salvation, in all its fullness, is not as accessible 
to you as to any individual of the race. 

The source, also, from which this salvation origi- 
nates, would lead us to suppose, that we should 
find its provisions just as full and adequate for one 
necessity, as for another. A salvation character- 
ized by any thing less than an infinite and perfect 
fullness for every real necessity of the creature 
whose necessities it was designed to meet, we can 
not, without manifest unbelief, suppose would, or^ 
could proceed from the heart of God. Who could*"] 
suppose, that he would find himself any thing less 
than " complete' 9 in the Son of God? 

2. The provisions of grace also stand revealed 
in the gospel, as just as full and adequate for the 
necessities of one individual, as for those of anoth- 
er, and for any one necessity of that individual, as 
for any other. The grace existing in Christ for 
each individual, is absolutely infinite. All neces- 
sities are alike overshadowed by such grace as 
that. Never despair, reader, when inclined to seek 
the redemption of Christ, till you find your neces- 
sities surpassing infinity. Remember also, the 
greater the necessity to be met, the greater the 
grace manifested in meeting it ; and consequently, 
the greater the glory that will thereby redound to 
Christ. " Wherefore, He is also able to save them 
y2 



258 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

to the uttermost, that come unto God by him." 
What does the term " uttermost" here mean, if it 
does not imply, that the salvation of Christ is per- 
fectly adequate to every solitary necessity of ours, 
as creatures and sinners 1 This is the language 
of inspiration everywhere, in respect to this great 
salvation. " Ye are complete in Him." Such a 
declaration can imply nothing less, than that every 
necessity of the believer is fully provided for in 
Christ. Whenever you find, reader, that any real 
want of yours can not be met in Christ, then you 
may proclaim it to the universe, that He is not able 
to " save them to the uttermost, that come unto God 
by him," and that believers are not " complete in 
Him." 

3. It is absolutely certain, that if you set your 
heart upon attaining this salvation, and attaining it 
in all its fullness, and if God combines Ms agency 
with yours, to secure that result, you will attain 
the end you are seeking. Nothing surely, under 
such circumstances, can surpass the power of Om- 
nipotence. " Is any thing too hard for God V 9 
Suppose now, that you really and truly commit 
your case into the hands of this everlasting God, 
and that He undertakes in your behalf. Will 
your case, or any element, or feature of it, be 
found to be too hard for Him 1 Will He fail of 
accomplishing that, to its fullest extent, upon the 
attainment of which He has set his heart ? Oh, 
that you would test to the uttermost the power 
and resources of His grace. " Eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
of man, the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love him." Of the perfect practica- 
bility of attaining any good, or any degree of good 
provided for us, no one can doubt, on the suppo- 
sition, that we are authorized to expect, that God 



INaUIRER DIRECTED. 259 

will actually combine his agency with ours to se- 
cure such a result. The great question with us 
then is this : Are we authorized to expect such 
divine cooperation'? This leads me to remark — 

4. That God has pledged his word and every at- 
tribute of his infinity, together with all the resources m 
of his infinite grace, that every one, who, in compli- 
ance with the conditions of life, seeks the full re- 
demption provided alike for all, shall not fail of 
attaining it. " They that seek the Lord shall not 
want any good thing.' ' Every real necessity of 
ours is certainly covered by such a promise as that. 
"Whenever we set our whole hearts upon attaining 
full redemption from sin, we find ourselves in the 
direct presence of the promises, "Faithful is He V 
that calleth you, who also will do it;" "And the f 
Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the 
heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with \ 
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou : 
mayest live." In view pf the infinite fullness of 
grace revealed for us in Christ, and of the prom- 
ised cooperation of God, with our own efforts to 
secure such a result, we are positively commanded 
to "reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, 
but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'* 
Reader, will you heed that command % One other 
question remains to be answered, to wit : 

II. How may we attain " this great salvation" 
ourselves ? 

To this question special attention is now invited, 
as this is the great burden of the present discourse. 

1. If you would attain this salvation, reader, per- 
mit me to say, in the first place, that you must not 
place unbelief as a barrier between you and the 
infinite good, which through Christ is proffered to 
your faith. You must not doubt or deny God's 



260 THE TRUE BELIEVES. 

power or willingness to meet your case fully, how- 
ever hard it may be. You must not " limit the 
grace of God." You must not place your own case 
out of the circle of the provisions of his grace, or 
of the sympathies of his heart. On the other hand, 
you must admit, that what " God has promised, he 
is able also to perform," and as willing as able. As 
you bring your case to Christ, the first question 
which he proposes to you, is this : " Believest thou 
that I am able to do this thing," which you require % 
Reader, what answer can you give to such a ques- 
tion ? 
>» 2. You must also carefully discriminate between 
[ what you are required to do, and what belongs ex- 
clusively to God, in respect to the case. 

For example : we are not required, nor is it pos- 
sible for us, to remedy any of the necessary or 
penal consequences of our sins. We have incur- 
red infinite guilt, and can not remove it. We have 
destroyed our own peace of mind, and can not 
restore that peace again. We have rendered our 
feelings fearfully callous to the truth, and can not 
remedy the terrible evil. We have generated hab- 
its of wrong-doing, and can not prevent the tenden- 
cies of our nature to evil, as the necessary conse- 
quence. None of these things can we do. But 
we can confess our guilt. We can, at once, cease 
the present doing of evil. We can also trust our 
Savior to remedy all these evils. " We have de- 
stroyed ourselves : but in Him is our help found." 
We can trust Him for the help which exists in Him 
in our behalf. Now, this is just what we are re- 
quired to do. Let us do our part, trusting the 
Savior to do His. " This do," reader, u and you 
jfoall live." 

fit belongs to God, also, and not to us, to excite 
particular emotions in us, by presenting, through 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. 261 

the Spirit, the particular truths adapted to excite **? 
such feelings. We may struggle as long, and as 
hard as we please, to produce such feelings, and 
we shall only thereby weary ourselves to no profit. j 
The more intense the struggle, in that direction, 
on our part, the more profound will our insensi- 
bility become. All this belongs to the Spirit of 
God. We should never attempt to take the work 
out of his hands. There is one thing, however, 
that we can do. We can yield our whole being 
into the hands of Christ, that He, through the 
Spirit, may work in us all that is " well-pleasing" I 
in His sight. This is what we can do, and. this is all 
that we are required to do, in the matter. It is 
His, when we thus commit ourselves to him " as 
unto a faithful creator," to " beautify us with sal- 
vation," by exciting in us all those emotions and * g 
sentiments which will render us most pleasing in l\ 
His sight. How many almost fatally err here. . 
Instead of yielding their whole being to Christ at -** 
/ once, trusting Him to move, and mold, and melt f 
j their feelings, and stir up from their profbundest j 
depths, the great deep of emotion within them, 
they weary themselves in worse than useless efforts 
to induce particular feelings in their own minds ; 
in other words, in vain attempts to do God's work \ 
instead of their own. «J 

Nor does it belong to us, but to God exclusively, 
to do any thing to make us willing to yield to Him 
prior to the act of surrender itself, on our -putt. 
God says, " Seek ye my face." The thing, and 
the only thing required of us, is the instant re- 
sponse, " Thy face, Lord, will I seek." We are 
to put forth no efforts at all before this response, 
to induce a willingness in ourselves to make it. 
This is exclusively the work of the Spirit. It is 
rebellion against God to attempt to take the work 



262 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

out of His hands. The thing for us to do, is to 
yield our whole being to God at once. The pre- 
paratory work, all that is needful, has already been 
performed on God's part. , " Look to me," says 
Christ, " and be ye saved." Make no efforts at 
all to render yourself willing to obey that com- 
mand ; on the other hand, obey it instantly, by 
actually looking to Christ, as directed. This is 
your part. Wherever you go, the duty of compli- 
ance attends you, as the duty of the present mo- 
ment. 

3. If you would be a partaker of this great sal- 
vation, reader, you must not make any circum- 
stances whatever, connected with your present 
state, a reason for not doing, at once, all that God 
7ioiv requires of you. 

No present want of deep conviction of sin, for 
example, must be made a reason for not instantly 
yielding yourself as the servant of Christ, and com- 
mending yourself to his mercy. It is for you to 
follow, at once, all the light you have, to meet fully 
all the convictions of duty, of every kind, now lying 
upon your mind. It belongs to God, when you 
have done this, to roll that degree of conviction 
upon your mind which your highest good demands ; 
and this, you may rest assured, He will not, in that 
case, fail to do. You know that you are a sinner. 
Confess the fact. You know that you need re- 
demption. Commend yourself, at once, to the mer- 
cy of God in Christ. This is the duty which sa- 
credly binds you at the present moment, whatever 
the degree of conviction resting upon your mind 
may be. The want of present intense conviction 
is no excuse for even a momentary continuance in 
impenitency, and rejection of offered mercy, and 
need be no hinderance to an immediate reception 
of proffered grace. Whatever your present state 



INdUIRER DIRECTED. 263 

may be, the voice of Christ to you is, " Look to 
me, and be ye saved." Fasten the eye of faith 
instantly upon Him for the salvation proffered. All 
else that you shall need, His mercy will then pro- 
vide for. 

Nor must any want of present emotion be made 
such a reason. "What excuse is this, reader, for 
the voluntary neglect of known duty % This very 
want of feeling, this profound insensibility to things 
unseen and eternal which sin has induced in your 
mind, is one of the highest conceivable reasons why 
you should, at once, commend yourself to the 
grace of Christ. As you thus, in deep humiliation 
for the wrong you have done your own soul, com- 
mend yourself to Him, it belongs to Him to dis- 
solve all the sensibilities of your nature in love and 
tenderness, by the revelation, through the Spirit, 
of His own unsearchable love and grace to your 
mind. " "We all, with open face, beholding as in a 
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image, from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord," It is for you to commend 
yourself to the grace of Christ. It then belongs 
to Him to make this transforming manifestation of 
His own glory and love to your mind. Then will 
the great deep of emotion within you be moved to 
its deepest depths. Make, then, the want of feel- 
ing a reason for instantaneous trust in Christ, to 
remedy the evil that presses upon you, and not a 
reason, as many to their infinite loss make it, for 
remaining in unbelief. 

Neither must you permit any fears of being de- 
ceived, or of not holding out unto the end, or of 
having passed already the line of mercy, or any 
other consideration whatever, to be a reason for not 
commending yourself, in faith and hope, at once, to 
the grace of Christ, or for the neglect of any other 



264 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

present duty. Do you, as you should, fear being 
deceived ] Then, instead of rejecting mercy r and 
rendering your eternal death thereby an absolute 
certainty, cry out with the Psalmist, " Search me, O 
God, and know my heart : try me, and know my 
thoughts : And see if there be any wicked way in 
me, and lead me in the way that is everlasting.' ' Do 
you fear, as you are bound to do. that you will not 
hold out to the end ? Will you make that a reason 
for turning your back upon the cross, and seeking 
the gates of death ? Rather seek the Lord, with 
all your heart, and with all your soul, that He may 
render you " steadfast, immovable, always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord." The peril of falling, 
which is real, should never be a reason for rejecting 
proffered grace, but for the most fixed and earnest 
trust in Him that is able to " uphold us by the 
right hand of His righteousness," and to preserve 
us " unto His everlasting kingdom." Do you fear 
that you have passed the line of mercy ? Test the 
ground of that fear, at once, by throwing wide 
open the door of your heart to Christ. If He has 
not taken his final departure, He will then " come 
unto you, and sup with you, and you with Him." 
Remember, reader, we shall never be deceived in 
regard to the ground of our hope, or fail to hold 
out unto the end, unless we ourselves consent to 
our own death. Instead, then, of making such 
considerations reasons for continued unbelief, "the 
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your call- 
ing and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye 
shall never fall : for so an entrance shall be minis- 
tered unto you abundantly into the everlasting 
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

4. If you would attain this salvation, reader, 
you must also set your whole being, with un- 
divided heart, upon the infinite good therein prof- 



INaUIRER DIRECTED. 265 

fered to your faith, and upon nothing else, to wit, 
full and entire reconciliation and peace with God ; 
together with a state of entire emancipation from 
the power of sin, into the u glorious liberty of the 
sons of God," and a " hope, sure and steadfast, 
entering to that within the veil." You must make 
up your mind at once, to shrink at no sacrifices | 
requisite to the attainment of this good; but to 
meet fully all the convictions of duty which the 
Spirit may impress upon your mind. " An entrance 
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ," is now, reader, open before you. Are 
you ready for the sacrifices and efforts requisite to 
admission to the treasures infinite that are there in 
store for you ? 

5. Finally, if you would attain this great salva- 
tion, reader, you must aim at it, not by attempt- 
ing to do God's part of the work, but by actually * 
doing your own. Break off, at once, from all 
forms of sin, and, by the grace of Christ, meet 
fully all your convictions of duty. Devote your 
entire powers and interest, at once, to your God \ 
and Savior. In that consecration, open your whole 
heart to Christ, in all the offices and relations which 
He sustains to redeemed sinners. By an act of 
simple, unwavering trust, commit all your interests 
and necessities to him, " counting Him faithful 
that hath promised," faithful to save you, even 
" unto the uttermost." "When you have thus com- 
mitted all to him, then wait in patient hope, and ] 
earnest expectation, till He gives you the "wit- 
ness of the Spirit," that you are his, and through 
that Spirit, pours his full salvation into your 
heart, and himself, with the " Father of mercies, 
and the God of all comfort," comes and makes his 
abode with you. His manifested love may not, j 
and probably will not, be granted to you, the mo- ' 
Z 



266 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ment you trust him. It may be necessary, before 
that blessing is given, that a preparatory process 
of heart searching, of emptying the soul of all that 
is unhallowed and finite, and of earnest and intense 
seeking after God, be gone through with. During 
this process, very strong temptations to doubt and 
unbelief may present themselves. Yield not to 
them for a moment. Above all, take not back the 
full consecration you have made, nor entertain a 
doubt of your acceptance in it. If the Spirit lead 
you to search your heart, or to empty yourself 
wholly, that Christ may be all to you, seek to have 
the work, in both respects, perfected. " If the 
vision tarry, wait for it;" wait in submission, in 
consecration, in obedience to all convictions of 
duty, in patience, in hope. Do this, reader, and \ 
soon Christ will bring all his glory into your soul. \ 
One thing, permit me to urge, as of special im- 
portance here. Whatever your feelings at any 
time may be, do not, on that account, hesitate a 
moment about meeting fully and promptly all your 
convictions of duty. In short, reader, " say of the 
Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my God ; 
in Him will I trust." Having done this, then hold 
fast your confidence, till He manifests His salva- | 
tion to you ; and then^Through the endless future 
before, "follow on to know the Lord." Do this, 
reader, and " God is your everlasting light, and 
the days of your mourning are ended." I con- 
clude this discourse with three 

REMARKS. 

1. In the light of this subject, the meaning of the 
declaration of the inspired prophet, " It is good for 
a man both to hope and patiently wait for the sal- \ 
vation of the Lord," becomes plain to our minds. 
The salvation here referred to, is the love of God 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. 267 

manifested to the soul, and the great deliverance 
from darkness, and the power of sinful habits and 
propensities, thereby wrought out for us. When 
the soul has made the consecration above described, 
and, in patient hope, is waiting for this deliverance, 
it is not commonly, as has been said, granted, as 
soon as faith is exercised in the promises. On the 
other hand, there is a longer or shorter period of 
patient waiting for God, and of earnest hope and 
expectation of His appearing. No period through 
which the mind ever passes, is of greater benefit 
to it than this, if its faith fails not. Every one who 
can look back upon such a period in his own ex- 
perience, has occasion to exclaim, "It is good for a 
man both to hope, and patiently wait for the sal- 
vation of the Lord." Great injury is often done 
to inquirers after full redemption, by their being 
told, that the moment they exercise faith, they will 
obtain the blessing, together with the " witness of 
the Spirit" to the fact. They exercise genuine 
faith, and the blessing does not come. They con- 
clude, of course, that the act referred to was an act 
of sin. If they attempt again to believe, they can 
but repeat this act, now regarded as sinful. They 
are perplexed, and know not what to do. The 
sealing of the Spirit, we should keep in mind, is 
" after that we have believed," and often, not till 
we have " waited patiently" for it. 

2. How manifest is the fact from the plainest 
testimony of the Bible, that full redemption through 
faith in Christ, has been realized in actual experi- 
ence. Look for a moment at the case of Paul. 
Throughout his writings we find no intimations 
whatever that he was conscious of coming short of 
what Christ required of him. Not a solitary con- 
fession of sin drops from his pen. The only pas- 
sages in which such confession has ever been sup- 



268 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

posed to have been made by him, have, as we have 
seen in a preceding discourse, no relation what- 
ever to the subject. 

We find him also, in one place, asserting that his 
aim was " to have always a conscience void of of- 
fense toward God, and toward man." In another, 
we have his unqualified assertion, that with just such 
a conscience, he actually served his God and Sav- 
v ior — " Whom I serve with a pure conscience ;" 
in other words, with a conscience which convicts 
me of no sin. " A pure conscience, " and a "con- 
i science void of offense," can not but mean the 
same thing. 

The oft reiterated declarations which he makes 
of himself, can imply nothing less. Take a single 
passage as an example : " I am crucified with 
Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the 
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." No individ- 
ual, in the light of the universally admitted laws 
of interpretation, can make such declarations mean 
^>any thing less than a state of perfect love. The 
following remarks of Mr. Barnes, fully express the 
meaning of this remarkable passage : 

" l I am crucified with Christ.' In the previous 
verse, Paul had said that he was dead. In this 
verse he states what he meant by it, and shows 
that he did not wish to be understood as saying 
that he was inactive, or that he was literally insen- 
sible to the appeals made to him by other beings 
and objects. In respect to one thing he was dead; 
to all that was truly great and noble he was alive. 
To understand the remarkable phrase, ' I am cru- 
cified with Christ/ we may remark: (1.) That this 
was the .way in which Christ was put to death. 
He suffered on a cross, and thus became literally 



IXaUIRER DIRECTED. 269 

dead. (2.) In a sense similar to this, Paul became 
dead to the law, to the world, and to sin. The 
Redeemer, by the death of the cross, became in- 
sensible to all surrounding objects, as the dead 
always are. He ceased to see, and hear, and was 
as though they were not. He was laid in the cold 
grave, and they did not affect or influence Him. 
So Paul says that he became insensible to the law 
as a means of justification; to the world; to am- 
bition, and the love of money ; to the pride and 
pomp of life, and to the dominion of evil and hate- 
ful passions. They lost their power over him ; 
they ceased to influence him. (3.) This was with 
Christ, or by Christ. It can not mean literally 
that he was put to death with Him, for that is not 
true. But it means that the effect of the death 
of Christ on the cross was to make him dead to 
these things, in like manner as He, when He 
died, became insensible to the things of this busy 
world." 

The individual who has been thus "crucified 
with Christ," and by the power of Christ has risen 
to the Ml enjoyment of the new and glorious life 
here spoKen of, has certainly attained to all that is j 
meant by the phrase, perfect holiness, or Entire * 
Sanctification. 

Without any qualifications whatever, the Apostle 
also commands Christians to copy his example, 
and promises them the favor of God in so doing. 
" Those things which ye have both learned, and re- 
ceived, and heard, and seen in me, do ; and the 
God of peace shall be with you." Would the 
Apostle ever have given such directions as that, if 
he was conscious in himself of any thing less than 
full redemption % Here is the spot where every 
honest mind would have been careful, if in any 
other state, to have asserted the fact. Paul, read- 
z2 



270 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

er, served Christ "with a pure conscience." So, 
by grace, may you and I. 

3. This leads me to notice, finally, what appears to 
me as one of the great secrets of high attainments in 
the divine life. It is this : the admission to our own 
hearts, that what Christ did for the sanctification 
and blessedness of such an individual as Paul, in 
the particular sphere in which he was called of 
God to move, the Savior is actually able and ready 
to do for us in ours. With what inconceivable 
sweetness did this question come home to my 
mind, years ago, when my heart had been for 
some time turned upon the blessing of full re- 
demption, to wit : Why can not Christ do as much 
for my holiness and blessedness, as he did for 
those of Paul ? The deep response of my heart 
was : Yes, He may, and He will do it, if I will 
only receive Him by faith, as Paul did*. And, 
reader, shall I tell you what the result has been, 
of thus receiving the Savior 1 If I have any ac- 
quaintance with my own heart, I may say, with 
truth, that I have no other motive in making the 
disclosure, than that you may know, and yourself 
experience, what the Savior of sinners does for 
those who trust him to do for them all that He has 
promised. The following letter, written to my 
own family, some years since, at the request of the 
— partner of my joys and labors, will present the 
subject as fully and distinctly as any language that 
I could now adopt. I will therefore give the letter 
to the reader, just as it was then written. 

My dear wife : 
I now sit down to complete a design which I 
have long contemplated, but the accomplishment 
of which the providence of God has seemed hith- 
erto to prevent. It is to give you and the children, 



INaUIRER DIRECTED. 271 

as far as I am able, some account of the dealings 
of God with my own soul, during the several win- 
ters in which I have been separated from you — 
blessed seasons, in which God has led me ' into 
green pastures, and beside the still waters,' in which 
my dwelling-place has been in a ' land of broad 
rivers and streams,' along the banks of the c river 
of life/ and on those everlasting hills, where my 
' sun goes not down, neither does my moon with- 
draw itself, where the Lord is my everlasting light, 
and the days of my mourning are ended.' As I 
commence writing, the waters of life rise and swell 
in my heart, and bear my soul upward and onward 
into an ocean of such calm, and serene, and peace- 
ful blessedness, that language fails when I attempt 
to describe what I see, and feel, and enjoy. In- 
spiration only furnishes language which approach- 
es the reality — ' Whom, not having seen, ye love ; 
in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, 
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' 

Perhaps I can not better succeed in giving you 
an apprehension of the state of my mind, than by 
presenting some of the elements and sources of 
that blessedness with which I have served God and 
my generation these years that are passed. 

The first source of blessedness is conscious 
peace with God. To look up, with an eye of 
faith, into our Father's face, with the full and sweet 
assurance that every controversy is fully and per- 
fectly settled, that, like Enoch, we can now ' walk 
with God,' and ' God himself will walk with us, 
and dwell in us, and be our God, and we be his 
sons and his daughters,' — we then know the bless- 
edness which Moses felt when God said to him, ' I 
know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in 
my sight.' To have God thus present to, and in 
the soul, with not a cloud or frown upon his smil- 



272 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

ing face, — this is the ' fullness of joy' which I have 

had in him for months and months together. Is it 

a matter of wonder, then, that my ' joy is full V In 

the very center of my heart 

1 Sits my Savior, clothed in love, 
And there my smiling God.' 

Another source and element of this blessedness 
the sweet ' spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, 
Father/ which God, by his Spirit, breathes into the 
heart. In the exercise of this spirit, the current 
of the thought, feeling, and affection, naturally, 
sweetly, and continually, flows out in sentiments 
of love, gratitude, and adoration, toward God, and 
there it rolls * in blissful fixedness about one 
changeless center. In the hour of temptation, the 
soul spontaneously ' looks to Jesus/ with the peace- 
ful assurance that his ' grace will be sufficient.' 
' In time of need/ however great or small the ne- 
cessity, it naturally turns to God, and * casts its 
cares upon him/ with the full assurance that ' he 
careth for us / that in Christ are provisions full and 
free for every want ; that the ear of God is open 
when we pray to him ; that even ' before we cry p 
he hears, and while we are speaking, he answers, 
Here am 1/ Son, daughter, what is thy petition r i 
To pray with the consciousness that God is thus 
present, that we are ' speaking to him face to face, 
as a man speaketh to a friend/— this renders our 
blessedness in God so great, that the particular 
blessings asked for appear hardly necessary to the 
fullness of our joy. * This my joy is fulfilled.' 

Another element and source of this blessedness 
is, the perpetual and peaceful assurance that, in 
and through Christ, every real want, temporal and 
3 spiritual, may and will be supplied. Christ has 
promised that ' they that follow him shall not want 
any good thing f that is, any thing, the possession 



INaUIRER DIRECTED. 273 

[ of which would be a real blessing to them, any * 
\ thing necessary to the perfect fullness of their joy. j 
To have this truth perpetually present to the mind, * 
to feel an entire assurance that this is the actual 
relation which we sustain to Christ — then we 're- 
joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' Then * 
we, ' being delivered from our enemies, serve God 
without fear, in righteousness and holiness before 
him all the days of our life.' This is the relation 
which I feel myself to sustain to Christ from day to 
day. While I remain here, I have no expectation 
or fear of wanting any good thing in time or eter- 
nity. All my interests lie secure in the hands of 
Christ. ' As the mountains are round about Jeru- 
salem, so is the Lord round about his people/ and 

I continually have the peaceful assurance that my 
soul dwells within that blessed circle. 

Another source of this blessedness is the con- 
tinued assurance that my way is so committed to 
the Lord, that He does and will direct my steps. \f 

I I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou 
shalt go ; I will guide thee with mine eye.' This ■ 
promise is a living reality to my mind, and I find it 
realized in my experience from day to day, in every 
time of need. When laboring in one place, almost 
up to the last moment when I am called to leave, I 
often know not where next to direct my steps. 
Yet when the time comes, the providences of God 
invariably make the way as plain as if a voice 
from heaven should tell me where to go. The firm 
confidence I have that this will be the case, pre- 
serves the mind from all care about the future, and 
leaves it at full liberty to expend its entire energies 
for Christ on the present field of labor. This state 
of peaceful trust, too, is itself, in the soul, a ' well 
of water springing up into everlasting life.' Then, 
when called to act, to know that God has heard 



274 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

prayer, in making the way so plain that not a shad- 
ow of doubt remains that one is walking in the 
very path which he has marked out, and, when 
pursuing that path, to be able to say, This is the 
highway which God hath cast up before me, — 
then, indeed, ' our fellowship is with the Father, 
and with his Son Jesus Christ.' Then we * walk, 
with God.' 

Another, and, I may add, one of the chief sources 
of this blessedness, is the continued assurance 
that, through the grace of Christ, I am one with 
God ; that my will is lost in the divine w?H ; that I 
hVve no will to do what God would not have me do, 
and that all that he would have me do, I will to do. 
Thus ' I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; 
and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by 
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and 
gave himself for me.' This is the most blessed 
spot in the universe. Nothing can offend the soul 
when it is here. In this blessed spot Christ seems 
to hold my soul from day to day. In this spot, no 
finite object has power to disturb the deep rest 
of the soul in God. ' God is its everlasting light, 
and the days of its mourning are ended.' 

I should here mention another fact in my expe- 
rience, which I owe to the grace of Christ. It is 
this : a state of perfect contentment, and an entire 
and peaceful acquiescenceTn the dispensations of 
providence, in every variety of condition. As the 
soul retires under the ' shadow of the Almighty,' no 
occurrence without has power to disturb it there. 
From that spot it looks out upon all the arrange- 
ments and movements of the surrounding universe, 
with this sweet spirit pervading its whole being, 
and that in respect to all creatures, objects, and 
events, l thy will be done.' It then ' learns in what- 
ever state it is, therewith to be content.' Every 



tfr 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. 275 

condition is best. So it appears to the soul, and 
that because our heavenly Father so wills. My 
dear ones, I desire you all to find this peaceful, 
blissful spot. No want unsupplied reaches the soul 
here. Never, it seems to me, did my soul dwell 
there so uninterruptedly as within a few months 
past. O, that blessed gospel, which has power to 
hold the mind in such a state ! And O, that blessed 
Savior, who is the ' author and finisher' of this gos- 
pel, and is himself its very substance ! 

Another element of this blessedness is this : an 
entire separation, in all my aims, purposes, and 
desires, from all objects but one — Christ and the 
interests of his kingdom. I do not know that I 
1 covet any man's silver, or gold, or apparel ;' that 
I have any desire for a name among men, or any 
wish to pursue any object, but the glory of Christ. 
I have the witness in my own heart that, by the 
cross of Christ, ' I am crucified to the world, and 
the world to me.' In this blessed state, the soul 
can say, Christ is all mine. Nothing interrupts its 
deep blessedness in him. With what sweetness 
have I been able, . especially during the present 
period of separation from you, to present my entire 
family as a ' whole burnt-offering' to Christ, with 
this single desire and prayer, that we may all be 
entirely his ; that we may be wholly separated 
from all that is unlike him, and have his entire 
image in all our hearts ; and that, as a family, we 
may all be able to say, 6 For us to live is Christ.' 
To entertain such desires and intentions, is a fore- 
taste of eternal blessedness. 

I now come to speak of a source of blessed- 
ness, to the description of which, I fear, I shall be 
able to make but a feeble approach. It is what, 
for want of better language to express, I would 
call those open, direct, and inconceivably sweet 



276 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

visions which, a great portion of the time, I have, 
of the infinite beauty, loveliness, and ineffable glo- 
ry of Jesus Christ, and of the Godhead as mani- 
fested in Him. You will, doubtless, recollect that 
memorable era of my existence when, I may say, 
that I received the first full baptism of the Spirit, 
— a baptism in which the Son of righteousness 
shined out in cloudless light, beauty, sweetness, and 
glory, upon my soul. We had just retired to rest. 
As I laid my head upon my pillow, in a moment 
the vision opened upon my mind. I had an appre- 
hension of Christ, as he came out of the sepulcher 
after His resurrection. The work of redemption 
was finished, and Christ, having burst the bars of 
death, had come forth to present the offer of eter- 
nal life to a dying world. There was in his benign 
countenance such majestic sweetness and beauty, 
such mildness and love ineffable and infinite, and 
glory so divine and resplendent, and all mingled 
with compassion so tender for the sinner, that my 
heart melted in a moment. ' The fountains of the 
great deep' of emotion were all ' broken up.' My 
bosom was swelling and heaving with emotions 
to which no language could give utterance. For 
seven years these baptisms have been more and 
more frequent, till now they seem to be the dwell- 
ing-place of the soul. At one time, I would view 
Him, as He led the disciples out to Bethany, and 
then ' lifted up His hands and blessed them/ and 
then, * while He was blessing them/ was taken up 
into heaven ; at another, as He revealed Himself 
to weeping Mary at the sepulcher, and to the two 
disciples at Emmaus; at another, as He met the 
weeping widow, and with infinite love restored her 
son alive from the dead ; at another, as He lay, 
the babe of Bethlehem, and yet the G-od incarnate, 
in the arms of the aged Simeon. At another. I 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. 277 

apprehend Him as present to my soul, and appre- 
hend Him with the full and perfect consciousness 
that ' in Him I am complete, ' that there is not a 
demand of my being, in time or eternity, which He 
is not able, and willing, and present, to meet. At 
first, I seemed to view Him at a distance from me, 
and yet, as I fixed the eye of faith upon Him, ap- 
proaching nearer and nearer, with a countenance 
infinitely benignant, and saying, If you will fix 
your eye steadily upon me, I will come to you, and 
make my abode with you. Thus He approached 
nearer and nearer, till He shined upon me from 
every point. He is in the soul, and yet all around. 
These views of Christ bring such sweetness and 
beauty into the soul, that I have often thus described 
the effect to my own mind. The heart is a harp 
of a thousand strings, and all are unstrung and dis- 
cordant by reason of sin. But Christ comes and 
puts every chord in tune, and then, with the fingers 
of infinite love, sweeping those chords, raises such 
notes of heavenly harmony, that the soul lies all 
melted with the sweetness of its own melody. 
' Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Lord/ In the study of the Bible I seem to be 
walking along the banks of the ' river of life ;' at 
one time bathing in its waters, and, at another, 
plucking the fruit of that tree ' which grows upon 
either side of the river, and the leaves of which 
are for the healing of the nations.' 

Preaching the gospel has now an entirely dif- 
ferent influence upon my mind from what it ever 
had before. In former years, when preparing 
and delivering a discourse, my feelings would be 
greatly interested. But when I was done, my own 
cup seemed to be almost empty. Now, while 
preaching ' the unsearchable riches of Christ,' my 
Aa 



278 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

own cap fills up and overflows continually, and I 
retire to rest at night with my soul afloat in an 
ocean of light, glory, peace, and blessedness, that 
appears boundless and infinite. When ' watering 
others/ none appear to receive so full draughts as 
my own soul. All the while, it appears such an 
infinite privilege to be a servant of Jesus Christ, 
to do and to suffer all His righteous will. With 

o 

inexpressible sweetness this passage, and others 
of kindred character, come home to my mind : 
* Unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only 
to believe on him, but also to suffer for His sake.' 

Soon after I heard of the death of my mother, 
as I was meditating upon this event, this stanza 
passed with indescribable sweetness through my 
mind : — 

' Hope looks beyond the bounds of time, 

When what we now deplore 

Shall rise in full, immortal prime, 

And bloom to fade no more.' 

For a whole night my soul lay all dissolved 
with that sweet thought, without hardly closing 
my eyes to sleep. These sweet thoughts often 
flow on into my dreams, and then I sometimes 
• hear music and singing that are perfectly unearth- 
ly. I will endeavor to give you some conception 

of one such scene. I was at T two years 

since, preaching this great salvation. One even- 
ing, as 1 retired to rest, I seemed, with infinite 
sweetness, to pillow my head upon the bosom of 
Christ. In this state, I fell asleep. I soon thought 
myself in company w T ith some ten or twelve indi- 
viduals before my father's dwelling, walking with 
them toward the door. As we were about to en- 
ter the door, the whole scene being inconceivably 
peaceful, they all stopped, and commenced singing. 
The words and tune of all were in perfect har- 
mony, which yet appeared undesigned, as each seem- 



INQUIRER DIRECTED. , 279 

ed to be singing, as it were, alone by himself. The 
j3erfect harmony seemed to be the spontaneous ef- 
fect of the concurrent melody of each soul within. 
The words and the music were all unearthly, such 
as I had never conceived of before. I looked at 
their countenances ; each one beamed with a seren- 
ity so peaceful and heavenly, that it appeared as 
if in each heart ' hope lay asleep on the "bosom of 
bliss,' and my own soul was as peaceful as theirs. 
One voice rose above all the rest. I turned to see 
from whom it came. It was from my departed 
father. One line they sung which I had before 
heard : — 

1 Gently, Lord, O, gently lead us.' 
As they came to this, my feelings were so excited 
that I awoke, all dissolved in tears. When I awoke, 
the words and tune were distinctly in my mind. I 
attempted to sing them ; but my voice was so coarse 
and harsh that the whole vanished in a moment. In 
thought only I remember it now. It has given me, 
however, such an idea of the harmony of heaven as 
I never conceived of before. 

" Such is an imperfect statement of what the Lord 
has done for my soul. 

* Therefore praise him, 
Praise the great Redeemer's name.' 

From what I have written, you will not suppose 

11 that my mind has always been in the same state of 
I ecstasy. This I could not endure. But my 'peace 
is as a river.' Neither will you suppose that no 
feelings of sorrow dwell in my mind. I often weep 
over sinners, and over < Zion, weary, tossed with 
tempest, and not comforted/ and as often ' travail 
in birth' for them. And what a privilege it is to 
weep with Jesus over a lost world ! Such tears 
are inconceivably sweet. God treasures them up 



280 THE TRUE BELIEVER. 

in his bottle. In him, however, there is perpetual 
rest. 

Now, my dear ones, having told you the deal- 
ings of God with my own soul, permit me to say, 
that my heart's desire and prayer to God, from day 
to day, for you, is, that you may all share with me 
in this ' fullness of joy/ It is all for you. I have 
obtained it ' by the faith of the Son of God.' If 
you will ' believe, you shall also speak.' May 
God, of his infinite mercy, grant 'that you may be 
strengthened with might, by his Spirit, in the inner 
man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; 
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may 
be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to 
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge; 
that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. 
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abun- 
dantly above all that we ask or think, according to 
the power that worketh in us — unto Him be glory 
in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, 
world without end. Amen." 

Such, reader, have been the dealings of God 
with one of the chief of sinners, consequent on his 
following the directions laid down for you in this 
discourse. Permit me simply to add, that if you 
will thus seek the Lord, and thus believe on him, 
you also will thus speak of the " riches of the 
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; whidh 
is Christ in you the hope of glory." 



THE END. 



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